Kent W. Gallaspie saved Marjorie O. Hornic.from burning, Lima, Ohio, November 20, 1963. In a frame dwelling fire broke out in the basement beneath the first-floor bedroom occupied by Mrs. Hornic, 57, who was an invalid. Noting flames issuing from a floor register in the bedroom, Mrs. Hornie.’s nurse summoned help. After a man had tried in vain to open a bedroom window, Kent, 17, schoolboy, entered the enclosed porch and crawled thence into the bedroom, keeping beneath the smoke. Flames issued from the register there and from another at the living room doorway three feet from the bed. Kent tried to get Mrs. Hornic to sit up but was unable to do so. He crawled back outside, took a garden hose which two men had brought, and re-entered the porch. The hose became detached, and he discarded it. Crawling back to the bed, Kent noted that the flames were increasing and those at the living room doorway were spreading along the floor toward the bed. After attempting without success to lift Mrs. Hornic, who outweighed him by 50 pounds, Kent pulled the bed to the porch door but found it was too wide for the opening. He pushed the bed away from the flames and briefly emerged from the room. Flames in the basement spread to the underside of the bed- room floor. Heat and smoke were intense. After moving a throw rug onto the register and cutting off the flames, Kent removed the side railing from the bed. He picked up the throw rug; and flames again issued from the register. Returning to the bed, Kent placed the rug on the floor, which was hot. When he pulled Mrs. Hornic off the bed and onto the rug, they felt the floor sag. Passing within two feet of the flames, Kent pulled Mrs. Hornic on the rug to the porch. Two men aided in carrying her outside. Firemen extinguished the flames.
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