The White House has announced that President Obama will award the Medal of Freedom to Alaskan Bonnie Carroll.
Carroll founded an organization called TAPS to help family members grieving the death of a military service member.
She is the widow of Gen. Tom Carroll who was commander of Alaska’s Army National Guard when he died in a plane crash near Juneau in 1992.
The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s top honor for civilians.
Carroll is among 17 who will receive it next week.
Others include singers Barbara Streisand and Gloria Estefan, film director Steven Spielberg, Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, and baseball great Willie Mays.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
