William J. Fetzer, 39, physician and surgeon, saved J. Leo Royal, Jr., 5, from burning, San Antonio, Texas, January 20, 1943. When fire started on the first floor of a private school building, all of the children were led out of the building. Leo and a small girl ran back into it and went to a bedroom on the second floor. From outside Fetzer entered a lower hall and ran up an enclosed stairway, one wall of which was burning, to an upper hall. Heat was intense, and there was dense smoke. Fetzer heard a voice; and being guided by the sound, he groped his way into the bedroom, to Leo, who was partly overcome by smoke. Fetzer was near suffocation, and he carried Leo from the room and began to run down the stairway. He fell head first and slid onto a burning blanket on a midway landing. His hair caught fire, and he sustained severe burns on his head and hands. He got to his feet and carried Leo to the lower hall. Fetzer’s wife extinguished fire on his hair and overcoat. Leo sustained severe burns but recovered. Fetzer was disabled for three weeks. The girl, who had been overcome by smoke, was rescued by City firemen; but she died. 39750-3305
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