Bennett Willoughby, 32, salesman, saved Adeline Wilkinson, 80, from burning, Liberty, Mississippi, March 3, 1946. Mrs. Wilkinson was asleep in a bedroom of a log house when fire broke out in the front of the house. Willoughby, who knew Mrs. Wilkinson was blind and feeble, ran to the house, entered a rear door, and with difficulty broke open a door to the bedroom. Flames on the ceiling extended within 10 feet of the doorway. Running to Mrs. Wilkinson and grasping her arm, he tried to help her walk; but she merely shuffled her feet. Heat was intense. Willoughby then jerked Mrs. Wilkinson, who was very heavy, from her feet, crouched, and walked backward to the kitchen and outside, dragging Mrs. Wilkinson and going through flames at the bedroom doorway. A few minutes later the roof fell in. Willoughby’s hair was burned off; and he sustained burns of the head, neck, and shoulders but recovered without being scarred. Mrs. Wilkinson suffered from shock and slight burns. 40649-3468
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