James Wallace Gary, Jr., 18, schoolboy, rescued Daisy E. Brown, 72, from burning, San Marcos, Texas, August 14, 1952. Mrs. Brown was trapped in a second-floor bedroom of the Gary home after dense flames broke out at a first-floor closet and spread rapidly to an upper hallway adjoining the bedroom. Gary, who had entered the front door, heard Mrs. Brown calling for help but saw that the stairway was blocked by flames and withdrew from the house. Ascending a wooden trellis 10 feet high that was three feet from the house, he stepped onto the porch roof. He walked 20 feet on the sloping roof to a window of the bedroom. Kicking a hole in the window screen, he entered the bedroom and encountered thick acrid smoke that had filled the room causing him to cough and his eyes to water. Flames extended from the floor to the ceiling in the hallway outside the bedroom, and heat was intense. Through the smoke, Gary saw Mrs. Brown standing beside a bed in a far corner of the room and observed that her clothing was afire from the waist upward. He ran to Mrs. Brown and, obtaining a bedspread, quickly wrapped it around her body and put out the flames. Carrying Mrs. Brown to the window, Gary thrust her to the roof and stepped outside the bedroom. He continued to the edge of the roof with Mrs. Brown and became faint. Gary’s father, who had climbed to the roof, steadied Gary and relieved him of Mrs. Brown. The father lowered her to the ground as Gary descended after resting briefly. The fire destroyed the house. Mrs. Brown was burned severely and died 14 hours later. Gary sustained burns of the face, neck, hands, and forearms that healed in 10 days. 3842-42651
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