Photos: Bonnie Carroll receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

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President Barack Obama awards Bonnie Carroll, president of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington.

President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bonnie Carroll, president of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, on Tuesday in Washington.

Carroll founded Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors after her husband Tom Carroll, commander of the Alaska Army National Guard and lifelong Alaskan, died in a 1992 plane crash in the Chilkat Mountains -- along with seven other top Guard leaders -- en route to Juneau.

Obama recognized 17 people with the nation's highest civilian award: Yogi Berra, Bonnie Carroll, Shirley Chisholm, Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Billy Frank Jr., Lee Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Willie Mays, Barbara Mikulski, Itzhak Perlman, William Ruckelshaus, Stephen Sondheim, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor and Minoru Yasui.

Read more: Alaska military advocate to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom