Ray C. Bourrage saved Edward Humphrey, Louis Shumate, and Robert L. Brown, Jr., from burning, Meridian, Mississippi, December 25, 1959. When their sedan overturned at a curve, knocked down a utility pole, and stopped in an inverted position, Humphrey, 27, furniture worker, Shumate, 24, boiler tender, and Brown, 26, grocery store helper, were thrown together in a tangled mass as fire broke out on the underside of the sedan. Bourrage, 37, maintenance man, ran to the automobile, stepping carefully over fallen electric wires near it. Unable to free the men from outside, Bourrage entered the sedan and untangled them. He pulled Humphrey and then Shumate from the automobile and carried each to safety as flames spread along the outside of the sedan. Bourrage reentered the automobile, removed Brown with some difficulty, and dragged him 20 feet from it. Humphrey, who was in shock, ran back to the sedan three times, once diving part way into it. Each time Bourrage dragged him away, and a minute after he had removed him the last time the automobile’s tires blew up from the heat. Flames enveloped the sedan, and soon afterward the fuel tank exploded. Humphrey and Shumate recovered from injuries sustained in the accident, but Brown died the next day. 44931-4330
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