Howard R. Giles II, 12, schoolboy, helped to rescue Dana L. Peterson, 18, schoolboy, from falling, Las Vegas, Nevada, August 26, 1954. While climbing a mountain ridge, Peterson lost his footing, toppled over on his back, and slid 200 feet down a steep slope to within eight feet of an almost vertical drop-off 180 feet high. Without ropes or other protection, Howard and Bailey Le Roy Willoughby ran sliding 150 feet down the slope in loose shale and reached Peterson, who was badly dazed and was bleeding freely from deep cuts of the head and limbs. Howard and Le Roy lay prone and got hold of Peterson, who several times began sliding. As Howard maintained his hold and dug his toes into the ground, Le Roy crawled four feet downward on the steep slope to between Peterson and the drop-off and braced one shoulder against Peterson. After Le Roy and Howard had supported Peterson alone for 40 minutes, five other boys arrived in two groups and cautiously descended the slope to them. Lacking equipment to remove Peterson from the slope, the boys took turns supporting him for more than two hours. Two men later ascended the ridge to the slope, and Peterson was carried to a ledge that was dug out 10 feet higher on the slope. The group built fires as the temperature dropped to 50 degrees during the night; and they remained awake tending the fires until the following morning, when Peterson was lowered to the base of the mountain and removed to a hospital. The men and boys safely descended the mountain. Peterson recovered in 10 days. Howard and Le Roy were tired and chilled, and Le Roy sustained bruises of the leg and body which healed. 43256-3981
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43256-3981Obituary
Howard Roden Giles II, 73, of Henderson, Nev., died June 28, 2015. He was born June 24, 1942, to Howard Roden Giles, Sr., and Miriam Elizabeth Giles in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
In August 1954, at age 12, Giles helped to rescue an 18-year-old man who had fallen while climbing a mountain in Clark County, Nev. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded Carnegie Medals in October 1955 to Giles and a 14-year-old boy for their roles in the rescue.
Giles was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1964, serving in the Vietnam War with the First Calvary Division.
He was interred at the Palm Boulder Highway Mortuary and Cemetery in Henderson.
(Edited from an obituary provided by the family.)