Turner Radford, 56, railroad switchman, saved James C., 3, and John Sanders, Jr., 4, and Henry Drunch, 48, from burning, Jacksonville, Florida, January 21, 1955. James, John, and a sister were playing in the middle room of a one-story, two-apartment frame dwelling while their mother was away. Drunch, who was totally blind, lay on the bed in a room which extended from the main structure at one end of the front porch. A kerosene stove exploded in the front room of the Sanders apartment, spraying kerosene onto the walls and ceiling. The sister ran from the building, screaming that the house was afire. Radford was attracted and ran to the porch, where he pushed open the door of the Sanders apartment. Dense smoke issued from the doorway, and 12 inch flames extended along the top of one wall and the ceiling. Heat was intense. Visibility beneath the smoke and flames was good, and Radford could see the legs of one of the boys in the middle room. He drew the bottom of his topcoat over his head and, crouching 12 inches beneath the smoke and flames, ran through the front room to John. He picked up the boy and turned toward the doorway, noting that flames then enveloped the entire wall and three feet of the ceiling. Still crouching, he carried John through the burning front doorway and onto the porch, where he was told that another child still was inside. He immediately returned to the middle room in a manner similar to the first trip, and brought James to safety. Smoke then was issuing from above the door of Drunch’s room. He kicked open the locked door and found Drunch on the bed. The doorframe and one corner of the room were afire. Radford pulled Drunch to his feet, told him to crouch low, and then led him to safety. Firemen arrived and extinguished the flames, which had gutted the entire Sanders apartment and Drunch’s room, as well as burning much of the partition separating the apartments. James, John, and Radford sustained no burns. Drunch’s hair was singed. 43494-4040
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