James J. Stack III

James J. Stack III rescued an 18-year-old man and Edward J. Smith from assault, Bloomington, Illinois, March 14, 1989. The man and Smith, also 18, were aboard a bus when another passenger, a man armed with a knife, began to stab them. Stack, 30, who was also a passenger on the bus, immediately approached the assailant, who was atop the man, struggling with him in the aisle. Stack seized the assailant, then struggled with and subdued him, allowing the driver to take the bus to the hospital, where police arrested the assailant. The man was hospitalized five days for treatment of his stab wounds, from which he recovered, but Smith was mortally wounded.