Harmon Perryman, III

Harmon Perryman III helped to rescue Trudy L. Walunas from burning, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 9, 2001. Ms. Walunas, 42, was pinned inside a burning van after an interstate highway accident in which the van and a tractor-trailer that was transporting several cars collided. Fuel tanks on both the van and the tractor-trailer were ruptured, and flames broke out at the vehicles, which remained in contact. Perryman, 36, truck driver, who was the passenger in the tractor-trailer, exited the vehicle and, shoeless, approached the passenger side of the van. Seeing Ms. Walunas inside the van, the interior of which was burning, Perryman returned to his vehicle for a fire extinguisher. Another man approached the van, opened the passenger door, and attempted to remove Ms. Walunas, but, unsuccessful, he withdrew amid deteriorating conditions. Perryman responded with the fire extinguisher and used it against the flames but to no effect. He and the other man then extended their upper bodies into the van, despite the intense heat and close flames. They grasped Ms. Walunas and pulled her from the vehicle just moments before it was engulfed by flames. Ms. Walunas was taken to the hospital, where she was detained for treatment of third-degree burns and other injuries. Perryman was also treated at the hospital, for lacerations to his left hand and a chest wall contusion. He recovered.