Charles T. Walker, Sr., sustained fatal burns rescuing M. Louella Acheson from burning, Glenwillard, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1952. At night a fire broke out on the first floor of a two-story house occupied by Mrs. Acheson, 87, and Walker, 37, business machine repairman, and his four young children, and dense acrid smoke filled a hall and stairway leading to the second floor. Mrs. Acheson, who walked haltingly with a cane and did not see well, and the 13-year-old daughter of Walker were in an upstairs bedroom when they smelled smoke and heard the roar of flames in rooms near the foot of the stairs. At the direction of Mrs. Acheson, the daughter climbed through a bedroom window to the front porch roof. A man aided her to the ground. From the first floor living room, Walker led his three sons to the front door and sent them outside. Heat became intense, and the flames spread rapidly. Walker entered the hall and ascended the stairway to Mrs. Acheson. The ceiling of the hall and stairway was ignited and burned with a blistering heat. A man who stepped into the hall from the front porch heard a moaning sound coming from the top of the stairway but could see nothing in the smoke and left the house. Soon afterward, Walker descended the stairway dragging Mrs. Acheson. He reached the front door and thrust one arm through a pane of glass. Opening the door, two men found Mrs. Acheson and Walker together on the hall floor and dragged them from the house. The roof burned through and collapsed, and most of the house was destroyed by the fire. Mrs. Acheson sustained severe burns and died three months later. Walker suffered severe burns of the face, neck, arms, back, and chest. His mouth and throat were blistered by the heat, and his hair was burned off completely. He died nine hours after the act. 42624-3813
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