Action for Men, May 1960 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

have been amputated or broken in the crash landing. Sawyer yelled, “My leg’s broken through the ice. It’s caught down between these rocks. Help me. Hurry ! We’ve got to get out of here before the plane blows.” Wiping the blood from his face, Summersill knelt down in the snow and pulled on Sawyer’s leg. He slipped and fell. Sawyer clutched his jacket, and the two men grunted, as they fumbled in the snow. “Get out of the parachute,” Summersill said. Sawyer clawed his way out of the parachute harness. Summersill put his knee against the parachute pack, gave a mighty pull, and fell over backward as Sawyer’s leg broke free from the trap. Water dripped from his trousers and boots; the hole into which he had slipped was a frozen-over puddle. His kneecap was badly injured. One of the smoke flares, ignited by the heat and gaso- line flames, whooshed over their heads. “Get out of here before we’re killed!’ Sawyer yelled. Both men got up and starting running, Sawyer dragging his chute. After a few feet, he dropped it in the snow. “To hell with it,” he said. ‘We can’t get it up the hillside anyway.” The two men clambered over and around the huge boulders, stumbling and sliding on the slippery shale. “Where’re we going?’ Summersill asked. “Follow me,” Sawyer said, “I think I see a good hiding place up on the side of the ridge.” Sawyer had spotted a small group of trees covering a rock formation about halfway up the ridge. Now, as he plunged through the snow toward the spot, he could see that several of the rocks joined together to form a cave. Soon he was pushing his way inside. But the sloping ground was covered by a sheet of ice. Each time he crawled up, he slid back down. On the third try, he succeeded in pulling himself to the rear of the cave by his arms. He braced his feet splay-legged against two rocks. Then he extended a hand to Summersill. Summersill had wanted to be a pilot ever since he was a small boy. He’d had to overcome setbacks and delays for five years, but by 1948 he’d made it. When war broke out in Korea in June 1950, the 24-year- old fighter pilot was stationed in Japan, flying transports. In late December a job opened (Continued on page 39) In Walter Reed Hospital, Summersill was fitted with plastic feet, and became the first double amputee to stay in USAF. COMmiclbooks