Prince Harry Honors First Responder at One805LIVE! Concert: ‘You Are One of the Many Heroes Here’
Santa Barbara County air support pilot Loren Courtney was honored by the royal at the annual fundraising event
Prince Harry spent his Friday night in Carpinteria, Calif., helping raise funds for Santa Barbara County First Responders.
The prince took the stage at the star-filled One805LIVE! concert, hosted by Kevin Costner. The concert helps raise funds for the local fire, police, and sheriff departments, with proceeds going towards equipment and mental health resources.
The Duke of Sussex took the stage in front of hundreds of concertgoers with the night’s honoree, Santa Barbara County air support pilot Loren Courtney.
“As you’ve probably heard already, 22 years [of] military service over 10,000 hours and rarely sees his family because he’s always here flying helicopters,” Prince Harry said of Courtney.
After he quipped that Courtney was 65 years old but looked 40, he asked him, “Why do you still do what you do?”
“I do this because I love doing it and I love doing it for the county of Santa Barbara. It’s a rewarding experience whenever we go out, either putting out fires or rescuing somebody in the back country or medical evacuations from vehicle accidents or doing the law patrol, keeping citizens safe,” Courtney replied.
When Prince Harry asked if there was “an experience or a story that stands out” from his years of service, Courtney recalled an experience when he was doing search and rescue in Colorado and helped rescue a group of skiers who had gone off a 30-foot embankment.
One of them, he said, suffered a severe head injury and took five attempts to get out.
“I learned in the military, you never leave anybody behind. We got him out. He spent almost a year in intensive care and then rehab, and now he’s walking, he got married. He actually went to the top of the Grand Tetons and, and proposed to his girlfriend after the accident,” the pilot added.
“You didn’t have to rescue him again, did you,” Prince Harry joked. “You are one of the many heroes here tonight. There are people here tonight who are alive because of you and who are back to their families because of you… from everybody here, thank you so much.”
Another honoree of the night was musician Kenny Loggins, who performed and received this year’s “Heart of the Community Award.”
“In recognition of his extraordinary and constant philanthropic work in Santa Barbara County, One805 has chosen to honor Kenny Loggins as a recipient of this year’s ‘Heart of the Community Award.’ He will receive the award on-stage at the concert. Prior recipients have included Kevin Costner and founding board member Alan Parsons,” said One805 executive board member Kirsten Cavendish Weston-Smith in a previous press release.
The lineup also included Pink & Dallas Green as “You + Me,” Joe Bonamassa, Alan Parsons, Al Stewart, Richard Marx, Alyssa Bonagura, Jordan Asher Huffman, Plastic Harpoons, and the Santa Barbara Symphony.
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Last September, Prince Harry was accompanied by Meghan Markle as he attended the One805LIVE! Fall 2023 fundraiser event.
Prince Harry previously served as a helicopter pilot during his decade in the British Army, flying training missions in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, as well as combat missions in Afghanistan.
