On a cold January day in 1984, 64-year-old Harry Lee Shryock Jr. was killed at Polson Airport after stepping forward to replace a 13-year-old hostage. The situation began when 27-year-old David Keith robbed a Missoula pharmacy, fled, and later took the boy hostage at gunpoint. At a roadblock Keith demanded an aircraft and a pilot; Shryock, a decorated retired Air Force pilot who had served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, voluntarily offered himself in place of the child.

Keith and Shryock boarded a private plane, but police had disabled the aircraft’s tires. As Shryock attempted to start the engine, a police sniper wounded Keith in the arm and chest. Keith then shot Shryock in the head, killing him instantly. Keith was apprehended at the scene; in March 1985 he pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide, aggravated assault, and aggravated kidnapping. Shryock was posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal.