Anthony E. Vrabel, 45, crane operator, saved an unidentified man and two women from being killed by a train, Homestead, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1954. At night a heavy thunderstorm caused a traffic tie-up, and the four-door sedan occupied by the man and two women stopped on a railroad crossing with its back end extending onto a track on which a passenger train was approaching at a speed of 35 m.p.h. Vrabel ran to the crossing and shouted to the drivers of the two automobiles ahead of the one on the track, directing them to move forward several feet. He continued onto the track and got behind the stalled automobile when the train was 500 feet away. None of the occupants attempted to leave the automobile. Crouching, Vrabel lifted on the rear bumper, braced his shoulder against the trunk, and with great effort shoved the automobile from the track, barely clearing the path of the train, which passed them at unreduced speed. Vrabel had a recurrence of a hernia and was disabled 11 weeks following an operation. 43398-3993
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