Bill McCallum was awarded the first Union of Taxation Employees Humanitarian Award at the September 2007 Presidents' Conference.
An exerpt from the award submission "Bill reaffirmed and demonstrated his caring for others when he stepped forward and offered his services to the United States Army's plea for experienced embalmers to assist in the recovery of victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
It was the hope of the U.S. officials that volunteers could endure for as much as two weeks recovering victims in the ruins of New Orleans and preparing their remains for release to their families.
The United States Army had Bill on a plane to New Orleans in less than 48 hours after receiving his offer of assistance. Medical immunization took up the first day and with the assistance and support of his wife and family in packing and making other arrangements he boarded a plane at 6:00 am the second day.
Bill and his team were deployed to the most devastated areas of New Orleans commencing their work a month after Katrina hit and within days after Rita. In fact, Bill worked five weeks straight, starting at 6:00 am and often not finishing until 10:00 pm, in 30 degree plus temperatures. Most often Bill worked in dreadful conditions within the wreckage of homes infested with alligators and poisonous water moccasin snakes. Armed escorts always accompanied his team. Collectively the teams recovered in excess of eight hundred human remains, assisting families achieve some form of closure from this catastrophe."
Attached the the award submission.