Michael L. Hargett helped to save Mary A. McReynolds from burning, West Frankfort, Illinois, September 18, 1983. Miss McReynolds, 18, was pinned unconscious in the passenger seat of a car after a highway accident in which the car burst into flame. Injured in the crash, Hargett, 19, truck driver, escaped from the car but returned to it moments later when he realized that Miss McReynolds was trapped inside. Despite increasing flames on the car’s hood and on the ground beneath its leaking fuel tank, and although he was bleeding from a serious head injury, Hargett reached through the passenger window and pushed the front seat-back away as two men freed, then removed Miss McReynolds to safety through the driver’s side of the car. Moments later, the car’s interior was engulfed in an explosive burst of flames. Miss McReynolds recovered from minor injuries. Hargett required hospital treatment for his injury.
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