Frank J. Jad saved Anthony V. Usner from suffocation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1960. Usner, 59, entered a manhole and descended sixteen feet to the bottom of a brick-lined chamber six feet square which housed a water valve. As Usner started to close the valve, he was overcome by an unidentified gas and fell unconscious onto the floor of the chamber. Another workman entered the chamber but, becoming dizzy, left without being able to aid Usner. Jad, 42, steel mill furnace helper, who with others had been attracted to the manhole, then descended to the bottom with a damp handkerchief tied over his nose and mouth. He leaned over Usner, became nauseated and dizzy from the gas, and returned to the surface. Another workman, wearing a gas mask, entered the chamber and put a safety belt around Usner but lost consciousness before he could attach a rope to it. He was revived by air from a hose lowered through the manhole and immediately climbed to the surface. Jad then put on the mask and, with a rope tied around his waist and held at the surface by others, re-entered the manhole. He took with him one end of a second rope, which he tied around Usner. Jad then held Usner as they were raised to the surface by the two ropes. Usner was hospitalized nine days and recovered. 45184-4355
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