New Heroic Comics #97

When young Louis Freitas notices yesterday's newspaper still sitting on a customer's doorstep during his delivery route in Fall River, Massachusetts, his quick thinking sets off a chain of events that could save a life. After alerting his brother and the police to the locked house filled with mysterious gas, officers work desperately to reach the unconscious elderly resident inside. This true story from 1955 shows how one alert newsboy's vigilance and instinct to act made all the difference.

The Navy's patrol bomber Neptune faces a harrowing emergency when its landing gear jams during approach to Copenhagen—with fuel running dangerously low and a crash landing imminent. Aviation machinist's mate Harry Baker volunteers for an impossibly dangerous mission: crawling through a hole in the fuselage into the screaming wind to manually free the stuck nose wheel before impact. This 1955 account chronicles a split-second act of naval heroism that transformed certain disaster into a routine touchdown.

Mrs. Jean Petty, a school crossing guard in Burnt Hills, Silver Spring, Maryland, springs into action when a speeding car rounds a curve toward a young girl and her dog—but the driver can't stop in time. Struck and knocked to the ground in the chaos, Mrs. Petty watches helplessly as the vehicle speeds away, leaving witnesses and police to piece together what happened next.

When a young couple's cabin cruiser explodes on Lake St. Clair, sixteen-year-old Lawrence King spots the disaster from shore and races out in his outboard motor boat to help. With quick thinking and courage, he manages to rescue the badly burned pair and bring them safely back to land. Based on this true story, "The Admirable Admiral" captures one teenager's split-second decision to act when lives hang in the balance.

Larry Glen Cox, a 17-year-old Explorer Scout from Pampa, Texas, springs into action when a neighbor's sons are overcome by gas fumes in their home—rushing across the street to administer life-saving artificial respiration while summoning emergency help. His quick thinking and Scout training revive both boys before the ambulance arrives, earning him recognition that will reach him months later in an unexpected way. This true-life account captures the moment a young scout's preparedness and courage make all the difference.

When a man suffers a heart attack in rural Berlin, New Jersey, his desperate wife's call reaches Mrs. Carolyn F. Gross, the night operator at Bell Telephone Company's central office, who must think fast to connect the right people and get help to arrive in time. Through quick thinking and decisive action, this telephone operator becomes the crucial link in a chain of rescue—coordinating with a new doctor in town, alerting state police to guide him, and arranging an ambulance—proving that sometimes the person behind the switchboard is the real hero of the night.

When a young swimmer hears desperate cries for help from the Merrimac River, he races against a treacherous current to rescue a boy caught in its grip. This 1955 true-life account captures the split-second decision and dangerous courage that turned an ordinary day into an act of heroism in Lowell, Massachusetts.

When the driver of a Staten Island bus collapses at the wheel, a quick-thinking passenger named Eugene Perry springs into action to prevent catastrophe. With the vehicle hurtling toward a crowded sidewalk, Perry takes control and steers the bus to safety, stopping it before tragedy can strike. His heroic instincts and split-second decision-making spare dozens of lives from disaster.

When a frail thirteen-year-old school crossing guard named Robert DiCristi spots a young boy dart into traffic after his sister, he doesn't hesitate—he dashes into the street to pull the child to safety. In a split second of selfless action, Robert saves the boy's life, though the encounter leaves him facing danger of his own. This 1955 true-life story celebrates the quiet heroism of a young person who understood that duty meant putting others first.