James A. Brown, 45, locomotive fireman, rescued Walter B. Grober, Jr., 31, brakeman, from burning, Bokoshe, Oklahoma, February 1, 1958. After being thrown from the locomotive in which he was riding as two freight trains collided head-on, Grober, who had sustained a broken shoulder and a head injury, was sprayed with burning oil as the engines exploded. Grober ran from the scene, tearing off his burning overalls. While running he struck a barbed wire fence and was thrown to the ground partially beneath it, with his trousers still afire. Unable to rise, he called for help as flames from the wreckage, including a tank car carrying 10,000 gallons of gasoline, spread rapidly toward him through tall grass alongside the track. Brown, who had jumped from the other engine just before the collision and had crawled under the fence, escaping the spray of burning oil, was attracted by Grober’s cries. Although fearful of an explosion of the gasoline tank car and handicapped by a badly sprained ankle, Brown ran back to the fence, where the heat from the burning gasoline and oil was intense. He took hold of Grober’s trouser cuffs and pulled the lower part of his body under the fence. With difficulty he removed Grober’s trousers, sustaining burns to his hands as he did so. He then pulled Grober, who was barely conscious, the rest of the way under the fence and dragged him 200 feet to a road. A passing motorist took them to a hospital. The flames spread as much as 400 feet from the wreckage and burned for more than four hours. Four other trainmen were fatally injured in the wreck. Grober was hospitalized 14 months and recovered from extensive burns. Brown suffered burns to his hands and other burns, caused by the intense beat, to his head but recovered
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