Roy W. Buckalew

Roy W. Buckalew saved Herbert D. Altman and attempted to save Leonidas V. Keck, III, and an unknown person from burning, Morgantown, West Virginia, January 12, 1945. The airplane in which Altman, 24, navigator, and Keck, 24, military pilot, and six other military personnel were riding crashed in a ravine and burst into flames. Keck was thrown out and lay three feet from the nose; and Altman lay unconscious, his head and arms extending out of a hole in the cockpit. Three of the others got out of a window of a rear compartment and crawled 75 feet from the airplane. Buckalew, 42, painter, ran to them; and in reply to his inquiry, they told him others were in the airplane and warned him of the danger of an explosion. Buckalew ran to the cockpit, and in intense heat pulled Altman out. He dragged him 10 feet, and another man took Altman farther away. Buckalew then ran to Keck and dragged him up the side of the ravine. Keck was dead. Hearing screams and seeing what appeared to be a man’s legs extending from the side of the fuselage, Buckalew twice returned to within eight feet of the airplane. He dropped to his knees each time and shielding his face with his arm, he tried to crawl closer; but intense heat prevented him. The airplane was almost entirely destroyed, three men dying in the wreckage. Buckalew sustained superficial burns and a minor laceration of one hand. Altman, who was seriously injured, recovered.