Pregnant Sydney siege hostage... tribute to Katrina Dawson who shielded her from gunfire

news.com.au ^ | 19th December 2014 | Ashlee Mullany

[naturalman1975]

A PREGNANT woman held hostage in the Sydney siege has remembered her close friend Katrina Dawson as “the most wonderful person I have ever met”.

Julie Taylor was held captive for almost 17 hours inside the Lindt cafe, alongside her work colleague Ms Dawson, who reportedly shielded her from gunfire in the final dramatic moments of the siege.

“Her bravery and strength was, and continues to be, a comfort and inspiration for me,” Ms Taylor said in a statement today.

“She invested every moment of her life in her friends and family, and will be greatly missed by everyone who has known her.

“My thoughts and sympathy are with her family, whom I have come to know and love.”

.....

She said her unborn baby was unharmed in the ordeal and she was due to give birth in just a few months.

“My husband and I have been told that our unborn baby is healthy and unharmed by this crisis. If all goes well, and there is noreason to think that it won’t, we will give birth to a precious baby in a few months,” she said.

[naturalman1975]

One thing I like about Australia is we have a civil honours system that allows for the courage of civilians to be recognised by officially awarded medals in the same way the heroism of military personnel can be. (we inherited this tradition from Britain).

The Cross of Valour (CV) is awarded "only for acts of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril", and is considered to rank alongside the Victoria Cross (VC) which can only be awarded for actions in combat.

The Star of Courage (SC) and the Bravery Medal (BM) exist to recognise acts requiring slightly lower (though still very significant) acts of bravery.

Everything needs to be investigated but if reports that have come from the scene prove to be accurate, I would be expecting Tori Johnson, Katrina Dawson, and Joel Herat to be eligible for such awards - unfortunately in the case of the first two, posthumously. And there may be others as well.

[doc1019]

John 15:13: KJV

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

[VerySadAmerican]

If it’s a girl - Katrina

If it’s a boy - Dawson

[DesertRhino]

Speechless. Just so proud of her.

[SaraJohnson]

Thanks for sharing that tradition of awarding medals to civilian heroes. Ms. Dawson is an angel.

I have come to love Australia for their courage and honor.

[rdcbn]

John 15:13: KJV
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

---

Kind of makes you disgusted at the apologists in politics, the media and on the Left who support and excuse the actions of hate filled nihilistic terrorists

It also reminds of another biblical quotation from the Talmud -

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel
In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate

Many people, through their willful, direct and indirect acts of commission and omission , were more than kind and compassionate to the Terrorist who repaid the collective kindness of a society by cruelly murdering kind, innocent members of that society.

He didn’t even have water boarding to use as an excuse for his crimes.

[bunkerhill7]

All pregnant Aussie women should be armed.

[4everontheRight]

Thank you for that information...I wondered about some of that and am very glad to know this.
God bless all those who suffered from this act of terror.
God bless Australia!