Sheila A. Clark saved Donald L. Tyson from suffocation, Des Plaines, Illinois, March 20, 1962. When they went to investigate groans coming from Tyson’s motel room at night, Miss Clark, 23, airline stewardess, another stewardess, the motel manager, and a second man found the room filled with dense smoke. While the manager was telephoning the fire department, Miss Clark obtained a bath towel, saturated it with water, and draped it over her face and head. She then entered the darkened bedroom, where the smoke made her choke. Dropping to a prone position beneath the smoke she uncovered her eyes but could see nothing. Guided by occasional groans from Tyson, 34, marketing manager, she crawled six feet into the room. Flames then broke out on the bed and the wall behind it, providing dim light in which she saw Tyson lying inert face downward on the floor. Miss Clark crawled five feet farther in a narrow passage at the foot of the bed and grasped the hand of Tyson. Holding the towel over her nose and mouth, she dragged Tyson, who outweighed her by 90 pounds, as she wriggled backward to the open door. In doing so she passed within three feet of flames on the bed. She then backed out the door, and the manager and the other man drew Tyson from the room. Miss Clark, whose face and hands were blackened by the smoke, aided the others in reviving Tyson, who recovered. Firemen put out the flames.
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