Dennis James Myers saved John D. Elliott from burning, Benton, Illinois, January 13, 1984. Elliott, 53, hung upside down and unconscious in the cab of his overturned tractor-trailer after a highway accident. Myers, 32, truck driver, saw the accident and ran to the wreckage. Kicking in the windshield, Myers completely entered the cab despite the thick, acrid smoke filling it. Disentangling Elliott from the wreckage, Myers pulled him out through the windshield as flames broke out and fed on the tractor. With help from two other men, Myers dragged Elliott to safety seconds before flames explosively filled the cab. Elliott recovered from a head wound.
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