Joseph Reid

Joseph Reid rescued James P. Brinson, Jr., from a collapsing structure, Jesup, Georgia, September 19, 1984. Brinson, 36, lay pinned by a washing machine and a portion of the wall after a natural gas explosion racked his house and set it aflame. From a nearby house, Reid, 18, high school student, ran to the Brinson residence after hearing the explosion. He kicked in an outside door opening into the utility room where Brinson lay. Clad only in shorts, Reid picked his way through burning debris, arcing electrical lines, and broken glass and found Brinson. He cleared burning debris from Brinson, then lifted and carried him from the house to safety. Minutes later, the house collapsed. Brinson was hospitalized for five weeks with second- and third-degree burns over 22 percent of his body; he recovered. Reid recovered from cuts to his feet.