Nearly a year has passed since the sinking of the Sewol-ho ferry.<br />The tragedy left more than 3-hundred people, most of them high school students, dead or missing.<br />Efforts to honor the victims, and the heroes, have continued not only here in Korea,... but also in the United States., where two heroines were awarded a special prize for sacrificing their lives to save others.<br />Kwon Soa has this story. <br />It's a medal they will never wear.<br />Two young women who sacrificed their lives to save passengers on the ill-fated Sewol-ho ferry were awarded gold medallions at a chapel in Philadelphia on Sunday for their acts of bravery in the Sewol-ho ferry disaster.<br />Choi Hye-jeong was a teacher at Danwon High School, which is where the more than 3-hundred-20 students on the ferry were enrolled.<br />They were on a class trip to Jeju Island.<br />Choi is said to have gone down with the ship to save as many people as possible.<br />Park Ji-young was a member of the crew who reportedly saved around 50 passengers before she died, handing them life vests... without leaving one for herself. <br /><br />"We will think of the prize as an honor given to us by our children and will live our lives in proud service of society."<br /><br />The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation is a non-profit established by U.S. President Harry Truman in 1951 in remembrance of four chaplains who went down with a torpedoed cruise ship during World War Two,... after saving other passengers and giving up their own life vests.<br /><br /><br />"We feel like this act by the two young ladies, Miss Choi and Miss Park, is directly related to the sacrifice of the four chaplains."<br /><br />Former U.S. Presidents Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan are also among those who have received the prize for their service to the public.<br />Choi and Park are the first Koreans to be given the award,... which now stands as a reminder to people around the world of the sacrifices made on April 16th, 2014.<br />Kwon Soa, Arirang News.
