Grover A. Harris 65, retired iron molder, rescued Della Mae Robinson , 4, from burning, Joplin, Missouri., April 19, 1949. Della Mae was in a bedroom on one side of a one-story frame house when fire broke out in the rear and spread to a wall of her bedroom. No one else was in the house. Harris was told that three children were inside and entered the front door. Although unfamiliar with the interior, he crawled in dense smoke through two rooms but finding no one returned to the outside for air. Learning that only Della Mae was inside, Harris entered her bedroom through a window which had been broken out by another man. He crawled through the bedroom and part way into the adjoining room but was forced back by flames. Harris groped in the bedroom and found Della Mae in the crib. He crawled with her to the window, handed her to a man outside, and then stepped through the window. Della Mae suffered third-degree burns of the arms and upper body and died later in the day. Flames were extinguished by firemen in 30 minutes. Harris suffered minor burns and coughed for several days but recovered.
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