Robert C. Lord rescued David M. Giles and Jean G. Maddox from burning, Blythe, Georgia, December 30, 1991. Giles, 42, was the pilot of a single-engine airplane which lost power shortly after take-off, then crashed in a wooded area and began to burn. He and a passenger, Mrs. Maddox, 37, were both injured and remained inside the wreckage, unconscious. Lord, 36,mechanic, who worked near the scene, heard the engine stop and drove to the scene with a co-worker. Although one of the plane’s wings, which contained a fuel tank, was burning, Lord climbed onto the other wing and entered the cockpit. Flames by then were inside the plane, on its pilot’s seat and issuing from under the control panel. Lord seized Giles under the arms, then dragged him out of, and away from, the plane. He returned to it and re-entered for Mrs. Maddox, whom he removed in the same fashion. Believing that there was another person in the plane, Lord entered a third time but left after finding no one else inside. Mrs. Maddox and Giles were hospitalized for extensive injuries, Giles sustaining second- and third-degree burns.
66524 – 7698
66524-7698