King Charles III celebrated a woman who saved her sister’s life during a crocodile attack.
Berkshire native Georgia Laurie has been honored with the King’s Gallantry Medal, according to a Tuesday, May 14, news release from the U.K. government’s Cabinet Office. Georgia, 31, earned the award for her bravery during a June 2021 crocodile attack in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Per the news release, Georgia fought off a crocodile who began attacking her twin sister, Melissa Laurie, by “punching it on the nose with one fist,” sustaining injuries to her hand in the process. Melissa survived with “an open fracture to her wrist, severe puncture wounds to the abdomen and many injuries to her leg and foot.”
Melissa was the first one to spot the crocodile as their guided tour group swam in a river off the Manialtepec Lagoon. When Georgia safely reached the shore, she realized that her sister was nowhere to be found.
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“I’m screaming out for Melissa, ‘Where are you?’ Where’s Melissa? And there’s no response,” Georgia recalled to London’s The Times on Tuesday. “And I was just thinking, ‘I can’t leave. How can I live with myself if I leave?’”
Georgia then saw her sister floating “face down in the water.” She began “slapping her face” and managed to revive her, but the crocodile returned. Georgia then began punching the crocodile’s snout.
“I was in a bubble. All my senses were heightened but it was just me and my fight against the crocodile,” she told The Times. “I’m knee deep in water by this time and I was just punching the crocodile on the snout, hammering it with my fists while trying to hold onto Melissa and keep her up. I’d heard that if you punched a shark on the nose it could deter it. … I drew such deep strength from somewhere, from her, from my love for Melissa and eventually the crocodile moved off.”
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Even after her rescue, Melissa felt uncertain whether she would survive.
“I could feel myself losing grip of our bond when I was on the boat. I was saying, ‘Hug me, Georgia. Hug me I’m dying,’” she recalled to the BBC on Tuesday. “I was biting onto her shoulder to stay connected to her. She sang ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Don’t Worry About A Thing’ — she sang them on repeat to keep me calm. She was so brave.”
For Georgia, receiving the Gallantry Medal provides “a silver lining” to the horrific experience.
“It’s been a good thing for not just me but for the whole family. I feel like I have to share it with my sister because let’s face it, I don’t think I would have been nominated for it if she didn’t survive,” she told The Guardian on Tuesday. “What’s made this story so incredible is Melissa’s unwavering bravery throughout it all because she was so strong during it and I don’t think I would be here without her. She really gave me the strength to keep fighting.”
Georgia is one of nine people on this year’s civilian gallantry list, which is the first to be approved by Charles, 75.
