M. L. Skutnik III helped to rescue Priscilla K. Tirado from exposure, Washington, D.C., January 13, 1982. Mrs. Tirado, 22, housewife, was a passenger on a jetliner that struck a bridge shortly after take off and crashed into the Potomac River during a severe winter storm. She and others clung to floating wreckage of the plane before being taken to the Virginia bank of the river by means of a life ring and ropes dropped from a rescue helicopter. Twenty feet from shore, Mrs. Tirado lost her hold of the ring and submerged. Skutnik, 28, office services assistant, entered the water and swam to her. He took her toward the bank, where others assisted in getting her to shore.
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