Honorees

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Year Honored
1994
Honoree
James E Buchanan, Jr.
Agency
Sumner County
Agency City
Gallatin
Agency State
TN
Last Call
3/23/90
Cause of Death
Other Trauma
Biography
Sumner County EMS was the first paid ambulance service in Sumner County, and Jimmy Buchanan had been employed by the organization since its founding in September, 1988.<br /> <br /> Jimmy was killed in a freak accident in Hendersonville, Tennessee, on Friday, March 23, 1990. He and his partner had answered a call at Mansker Creek where a woman had fallen and broken her leg while fishing. The only way for them to reach the woman was to cross a railroad trestle. Jimmy's partner ran to safety when the CSX train rounded the blind curve just 25 feet from the trestle. Unfortunately, Jimmy could not. He was struck by the engine and thrown down the steep embankment, resulting in multiple chest injuries.<br /> <br /> Jimmy died at the scene at age 32. Due to the steep terrain at the accident scene, he and his patient were both transported out of the area on the train itself.<br /> <br /> Joyce and Jimmy Buchanan were the parents of two children--Latoya and James Edward III. They were members of Eighth Street Missionary Baptist Church and active in the Hendersonville 100-Plus Club, a benevolent organization formed to assist emergency personnel in times of need.<br /> <br /> Bob Hawkins, director of Sumner County EMS and the man who taught Jimmy's EMT classes, said, "He was one of the good ones."<br /> <br /> In respect for Jimmy, Ambulance 915, which had been Jimmy's vehicle, was draped in black and carried his body. Ambulance 916 transported the pallbearers.<br /> <br /> Honored 1994