Stephen W. Underwood helped to rescue John R. Adams, Jr., from a cave-in, Tulelake, California, May 24, 1987. John, 15, was pinned by fallen debris in a small cavity of a lava pit after a rockslide in Lava Beds National Monument. Underwood, 36, resources management specialist at the park, helped to remove the rocks near the cavity’s entrance. Then, despite the possibility of further collapse, he entered the cavity, penetrating it farther than John. Over the next 90 minutes, Underwood jacked up and shored the unstable lava until he and others were able to free John from an offending boulder. Underwood and others then removed John from the cavity. John required medical treatment for a leg injury, and he recovered.
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