The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District honored fourteen federal employees and engineers with the prestigious de Fleury Medal June 28 at the Bristol Restaurant, 614 Main St., Louisville, Ky. The award is the nation’s highest regimental premier award given to engineers for superior service to the nation.

“It is an honor for me to honor the service of so many in my final command,”said Col. Keith Landry, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District.
 
Quyet La, a junior employee, distinguished himself by meritorious service as an environmental engineer and is among the first nationwide to receive a steel award. Terry Siemsen, a geographic information systems specialist who implemented a nation-wide tool - a one-stop shop database which displays river gages, past precipitation forecasts and weather watches from the National Weather Service, received a bronze award. His work was critical to implementing emergency operations during the recent spring floods.

The Louisville District – responsible for the nationwide and overseas Reserve Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), emergency response, and civil works mission of a five-state area, saw an excess workload of $1.3 billion, the largest figure in district history in Fiscal Year 2010 . Award recipients played a large role in behind the scenes work which served to stimulate the economy. Approximately 1,400 people work at the district. The de Fleury Medal is the most prestigious award of the Army Engineer Regiment. It recognizes both civilian and military personnel for outstanding contributions to the United States and to Army engineering. The award is named after Francois Louis Tesseidre de Fleury, a French engineer who served with the American Army during the Revolutionary War. There are four de Fleury medal levels – steel, bronze, silver, and gold. The gold de Fleury is the most prestigious, and is awarded annually to a distinguished American. The occasion marks the first-time presentation in the Ohio River Basin region of the new level of the award, the steel, for junior officers.

Awardees are:

Steel de Fleury:
Quyet La, Environmental Engineering
Doug Harman, Contractor and USACE Quality Assurance Office
Lillie Boyd, Civilian Personnel Office
Deryck Rodgers, Army Corps of Engineers Nolin Reservoir

Bronze de Fleury:
Terry Siemsen, Emergency Operations
Steve Rager, Emergency Operations
Rick Morgan, Operations
Donna Mynk, Internal Review
Mark Yates, Contracting
Dianne Hibbs, Civilian Personnel Office
Steve Durrett, Engineering Division
George Jageman, Construction
Susan Toutant, Executive Office
David Dale, Executive Office

Pictured is Terry Siemsen receiving his de Fleury Award.