Eugene Standifer, Jr., saved John H. and Lisa M. Maldonado from burning, Fort Myers, Florida, August 30, 1969. At night fire broke out in one room of the four comprising a one-story frame dwelling where John, 6, and Lisa, 3, were sleeping in another room. Eugene, 15, high school student, a neighbor, noticed the spreading flames and ran barefoot to the dwelling. Learning that John and Lisa still were inside he entered the house and, running through one room beneath flames which nearly covered the ceiling, reached the children’s room. The increasing flames had spread to the ceiling there. Eugene found John and Lisa in their bed and picked them up, putting one child under each arm. By then flames in the adjoining rooms were extensive. Eugene moved to a window of the children’s room. He broke the glass and, still clutching the children, dropped to the ground outside. Neither John, Lisa, nor Eugene sustained burns.
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