Honorees

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Year Honored
1996
Honoree
Corey D Berggren
Agency
Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad
Agency City
Knoxville
Agency State
TN
Last Call
8/24/95
Cause of Death
Other Trauma
Biography
Corey was an active Special Services Member of the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad's Water Rescue Team.<br /> <br /> An experienced Dive Rescue Specialist, Corey held a dozen diving instructor certifications including Trimix, Assistant Cavern, DAN Oxygen, YMCA SLAM & Cavern, and EANX Cave Diver courses.<br /> <br /> He was also interested in computers and combined computers with diving to produce software which allowed divers to create dive tables by using multiple gas changes. Unfortunately, Corey's death resulted from the first fatal accident in the history of the 39-year old Knoxville Squad.<br /> <br /> His death was the result of breathing an inappropriate mixture of gas during a deep dive in a quarry to recover the body of a drowning victim.<br /> <br /> After the accident, Corey was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and placed in a hyperbaric chamber for decompression where he suffered a heart attack.<br /> <br /> Corey died on August 24, 1995, at the age of 40 doing what he loved to do--help others.<br /> <br /> More than 40 rescue/EMS agencies were represented at Corey's funeral, which was interpreted in sign language for students of the Tennessee School for the Deaf where Corey had been employed for 20 years.<br /> <br /> A rescue squad dive truck carried his body to the cemetery where a Lifestar emergency helicopter flew overhead in tribute. He was survived by his parents, Polly and Fred Berggren.<br /> <br /> Corey was remembered by Dr. Jerry Seale, minister to the deaf at First Baptist Church of Knoxville: "He loved to dance. He loved to flirt. He loved to dive. He loved to live."<br /> <br /> Honored 1996