Senior Airman Hannah Lillund was relaxing on her couch for the evening, while stationed in Germany at the Kapaun Air Station where she worked as a clerk with the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron. Then she heard screams coming from outside her apartment.
"I heard someone yelling, 'Help us! She's not breathing!' So I ran down the stairwell barefoot, in pajamas, to help," Lillund said.
Downstairs in the same building where she lived, Airman Elena Lucas and her husband, Mason, were trying to revive their nine-month-old daughter Eumi.
"One second, she was fine, and the next, she started coughing and then went completely silent. Her eyes were wide, and she wasn't breathing," Lucas described.
They were slapping the baby on the back to try to clear whatever was blocking her throat and preventing her from breathing, while also contacting emergency services, when Lillund appeared. She asked if she could try to revive the baby, and then, with three quick taps on Eumi's back, her throat cleared. "She coughed and the color came back to her face. It was like watching a miracle happen right in front of us," Lillund said.
Lillund credited her actions to her military training, stating that it taught her to remain calm and address the problem in a rational manner. "They make you perform while your heart's racing. You learn to breathe, focus, and just do what needs to be done," Lillund described.
First responders soon arrived, but Lillund had already averted disaster. Today, Eumi is doing just fine, and her parents are grateful that Lillund appeared at the right place at the right time, with the right training.