Herbert L. Pierce saved Vona Sterrett from burning, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 8, 1944. An airplane, in which Mrs. Sterrett, 45, was riding, crashed into an auto-truck and came to rest with the front of the fuselage on the bumper and hood. It burst into flames. One wing was broken and extended from the auto-truck along the fuselage. Holes were torn in the fuselage. Pierce, 42, painter, who was in the auto-truck, got out without injury. Mrs. Sterrett stepped from a hole in the fuselage to the wing, which gave way beneath her; and she fell into flames. After a soldier had tried to aid her and had left to put out fire on his clothing, Pierce ran to her. Flames rose 30 feet above the fuselage and a foot above the pavement where Mrs. Sterrett was. The auto-truck was in flames. Standing in flames, Pierce stooped and quickly picked her up and carried her 20 feet from the airplane. Mrs. Sterrett suffered severe burns but recovered. Pierce’s hair and eyebrows were singed. 40425-3411
40425 – 3411
40425-3411