Showing posts with label hero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hero. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

the stuff you aren't taught in school, about the brave people that do extraordinary things that aren't typical heroic actions... have you ever heard of the chopper crew that stopped the the Mỹ Lai massacre? Courage of conscience is rare


During the 1968 massacre, Thompson and his chopper crew, Andreotta and Colburn, stopped many killings by landing his helicopter between soldiers and civilians, threatening and blocking Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division.

Thompson and his crew saved a number of Vietnamese civilians by personally escorting them away from advancing United States Army ground units and assuring their evacuation by air. 

Thompson reported the atrocities by radio several times, although these reports reached HQ, nothing was done to stop the massacre.

In 1970, Thompson testified against those responsible for the Mỹ Lai massacre. Twenty-six officers and enlisted soldiers, including William Calley and Ernest Medina, were charged with criminal offenses; many were either acquitted or pardoned, notably excepting Calley, who was convicted and served a commuted sentence of three-and-a-half years under house arrest.

Thompson was condemned and ostracized by many individuals in the United States military and government, as well as the public, for his role in the investigations and trials concerning the Mỹ Lai massacre.

In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn, were awarded the Soldier's Medal, the Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy

Wednesday, December 03, 2025

Standing ovation for San Diego UPS driver Derrick West for doing some hero work!


He is the UPS driver whose quick actions likely saved the life of a man critically injured in a crash last week on San Vicente Road 

75-year-old James Ostermann had been driving his golf cart when the California Highway Patrol says it collided head-on with a truck.

Soon after, a UPS truck with two people inside, delivery driver Derrick West at the wheel, drove past the scene. On the ground was Ostermann, a grandfather and Air Force veteran, was surrounded by a lot of blood. Three people stood nearby.

Two ladies yelled, ‘He's bleeding out. We need to stop the bleeding,’” West said.

"Instinctively, I just started taking off my belt," West said, and applied a tourniquet to Ostermann's leg for several minutes before emergency crews arrived, and he was airlifted to a hospital.

Ostermann has since undergone four surgeries. His femoral artery was damaged, and he suffered fractures throughout his body, including his leg, pelvis, and ribs. He is now in stable condition.

Doctors said West had been five minutes from dying of blood loss.

The CHP says no arrests have been made. The other driver wasn't injured, and the investigation is ongoing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DMEg0Ivc2Y news outlet video not embedable.

Monday, February 17, 2025

You might have heard of the Challenger Pace Car catastrophe... but did you notice in the article about that crash, that John Glenn was in the car? I didn't, and I posted the dang article in 2017!



That year’s race didn’t have a factory-special pace car but a 71 Dodge Challenger that a local dealer provided.

Sitting next to Palmer was IMS owner Tony Hulman Jr. In the back seat were astronaut John Glenn, the future U.S. senator from Ohio, and ABC sportscaster Chris Schenkel. They plowed into the camera stand at an estimated 60 mph.

 After the opening lap, the car pulled into the pits, missed the braking point marker, failed to stop correctly, and took down a photographer’s stand, injuring 29 people. 

John Glenn, national hero 

 Prior to this spectacular crash, he had cheated death several times before, while making history. 

He was a test pilot for the Marine Corps, made the last air kills of the Korean War in July 1953, and crossed America from coast to coast in 1957 in a supersonic flight, and orbited the Earth three times in 1962.

Friday, July 19, 2024

The Saturday shooting that grazed Trump's right ear also killed former fire chief Corey Comperatore, and volunteer with the Lernerville Speedway Safety Crew for over 20 years.

 Corey was a former fire chief of Department #27 in Butler PA, and a fixture at Lernerville Speedway in his hometown in PA, a member of the track's Safety Crew for over 20 years. He also sold 50/50 tickets at the speedway to benefit the BTVFD.   

For nearly three decades, Comperatore worked at a plastics plant in the forested hills of Butler County, rising from maintenance supervisor to project engineer. In his spare time, he’d served in the U.S. Army Reserve and as a volunteer firefighter.

Comperatore rushed to throw his wife and two daughters to the ground, and used his body to shield his wife and two daughters, and died trying to protect them.


It's very rare that I can use the hero tag, but Corey earned it, no doubt more than the news will report during his decades as a firefighter. His name is taking the place of honor on this racecar

Thursday, May 09, 2024

Reckless, a horse born in June 1948 in South Korea, bred to be a racehorse, but never had a chance to race because the Korean War broke out in 1950 when she was two-years-old. The Marine Corps not only fell in love with her - but honored her and promoted her every chance they got.



a small (14 hands, 900 lbs)  Mongolian mare named Reckless became a National hero in 1954 when an article ran in the Saturday Evening Post about her heroics during several battles in the Korean War.

She was estimated to be three or four years old when purchased by the United States Marine Corps for $250 in October 1952 from a Korean stableboy at the Seoul racetrack who needed money to buy an artificial leg for his sister who had stepped on a land mine. She was trained to be a pack horse and used to carry ammunition and supplies for the Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marine Regiment.

But it wasn’t long before Sergeant Reckless proved herself to be much more than just a pack animal. She quickly learned to navigate the treacherous terrain of the Korean War, carrying supplies and evacuating wounded soldiers to safety without hesitation. She often travelled to deliver supplies on her own, without a handler. In fact, she became so vital to the unit that they renamed themselves the “Reckless Rifle Platoon.”

On one particularly harrowing day, Sergeant Reckless made 51 trips to the front lines, carrying over 9,000 pounds of supplies and ammunition. She was hit by shrapnel twice, but she refused to stop working. She even made the trip up and down the steep and rocky hills with a wounded soldier on her back.

The Marines were very fond of her, feeding her treats like beer, Coca-Cola, and scrambled eggs. They even built her a special tent to sleep in, and she was allowed to roam freely through the camp.

Her most significant accomplishment came during the Battle Outpost Vegas/Vegas Hill in March '53, when she made 51 solo trips in a single day, carrying a total of 386 recoilless rounds (over 9,000 pounds, carrying four to eight 24-pound shells on each trip) covering over 35 miles that day. 

When not on the front lines, Reckless packed other items for the platoon, and was particularly useful for stringing telephone wire. Carrying reels of wire on her pack that were played out as she walked, she could string as much wire as twelve men on foot.

She became the first horse in the Marine Corps known to have participated in an amphibious landing when the 5th moved from Camp Casey to Inchon, planning to participate in amphibious landings hundreds of miles south of Inchon.3] The commanding officer of the transport halted loading operations when he saw the platoon on the dock with Reckless. He refused to take her on board his clean ship, which had won an award for being the cleanest ship in the previous two years.

She was allowed on board after the Marines produced the loading plan, approved by him, which specifically listed Reckless and her equipment.

It wasn’t just the Marines that served with her in the trenches that honored her, her last promotion to Staff Sergeant was by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

She also became the first horse in the Marine Corps known to have participated in an amphibious landing, and following the war was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, inclusion in her unit's Presidential Unit Citations from two countries,

After the Korean War, Sergeant Reckless retired to Camp Pendleton, California, where she lived out the rest of her days. She passed away in 1968, but her legacy lived on. She was the first animal to be officially promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, and she was recognized by LIFE Magazine as one of America’s 100 all-time heroes.


thank you George!

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Standing ovation for the heroes of the day! Locomotive Engineers William Kennedy and Shawn Loughran, plus assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins, rescued an autistic 3 yr old kid near Tarrytown, who got onto the train tracks (where there is an electrified 3rd rail)


On Thursday, April 6, at approximately 3:15 p.m., Locomotive Engineer William Kennedy was operating a southbound Hudson Line train north of Tarrytown when he noticed an object and soon realized a young child was on the northbound track, so he sent out an emergency radio communication to all nearby train crews. 

 Locomotive Engineer Shawn Loughran and an engineer trainee who were aboard northbound Train 737 approaching the scene proceeded at slow speed until the child was spotted on a track near — and then on top of — an electrified third rail. Once the train came to a stop, Assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins jumped down to the track, ran 40 yards in front of the train, picked up the child and brought him onboard the train. The crew then traveled back to Tarrytown Station


At the same time, Signal Maintainers Max Chong and Christopher Fraina were heading to the area to help and came upon the child’s mother and sister who were observed sobbing on a street corner, who explained the three-year-old was missing. When a Sleepy Hollow police officer pulled up and mentioned a missing child report, the group realized they were all looking for the same child. Meanwhile, the Metro-North signal maintainers heard a report on their radios of a found child at Tarrytown station. They group drove to Tarrytown, where the railroad employees and police officers took the family to the platform, where mother and son were reunited. The boy’s mother says her son has autism.

Friday, September 10, 2021

The cyclist who saved Jews in wartime Italy, Gino Bartali, the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 1936 and 1937, and the Tour de France in 1938 and 1948 thank you Doug M !


 In the middle of the 1938 Tour de France, Mussolini published a Manifesto on Race, which led later to Jews being stripped of citizenship or any position in government or the professions.

Italy remained, however, a country in which Jews could take refuge, until it surrendered to the allies in 1943. The German army then occupied northern and central parts of the country and immediately started rounding up Jews and sending them to concentration camps.

At this point Bartali, a devout Catholic, was asked by the Cardinal of Florence to join a secret network offering protection and safe passage to Jews and other endangered people.

His role in the network was uniquely suited to his talents - he became a courier. On the face of it he was undertaking the long training rides for which he was renowned, but in reality he was carrying photographs and counterfeit identity documents to and from a secret printing press, because he was  was known to cover large distances with his bicycle for training purposes, he hid forged documents in his bike frame and handle bars, forged documents that were produced by the Assisi network, another rescue operation initiated by Church people in that town. 

When Bartali was stopped and searched, he specifically asked that his bicycle not be touched since the different parts were very carefully calibrated to achieve maximum speed.

"We've seen documentation that he travelled thousands of kilometres across Italy, travelling the roads between cities as far apart as Florence, Lucca, Genoa, Assisi, and the Vatican in Rome," says Jacoby.
In addition to this, Bartali hid his Jewish friend Giacomo Goldenberg, and Goldenberg's family.
"He hid us in spite of knowing that the Germans were killing everybody who was hiding Jews," Goldenberg's son, Giorgio, says

When asked why he refused to talk about his incredible humanitarian work, he said, 'You must do good, but you must not talk about it. If you talk about it you're taking advantage of others misfortunes' for your own gain.'"

And so, the facts were nearly lost to history, Bartali’s son said that one day his father Gino sat him down and told him about what he had done during the war. He told his son that it isn’t important that people know the good that you do, just so long that you do good deeds for others.

 His son then asked, “Then why tell me what you’ve done now?” Gino answered, ” Because one day my deeds will be very important for everyone to know and remember.”



Gino began to work at a young age, laboring on a farm and helping his mother with embroidery work.

At the age of 11, in order to attend middle school in Florence, Gino needed transportation. With his own earnings and with help from his father and sisters, he purchased his first bicycle. While riding the hilly roads of the region, Bartali started to develop and refine his racing skills. In 1931, at the age of 17, he won his first race.

On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on France and Great Britain. In October, Bartali was called to active duty. Because of an irregular heartbeat, he was assigned to be an army messenger. Allowed to use his bicycle for his missions, Bartali was able to continue training and racing for the next three years.

As the war progressed and cycling races were cancelled, Bartali's cover began to appear less credible. In July 1944, Bartali was interrogated at Villa Triste (Sorrow House) in Florence, where local Fascist officials imprisoned and tortured their prisoners. Fortunately, one of Bartali's interrogators happened to be his one-time army commander, who convinced the other interrogators that Bartali was innocent of any charges.

He went on to win the Giro d'Italia in 1946. With a stunning performance in the mountains of France, he won the 1948 Tour de France (10 years after his first Tour de France victory).


A school for cyclists, in honor of Bartali, will be based at Ben Shemen Youth Village in Israel, and will officially open in September 2019.

The program will offer children between the ages of 14-17 the opportunity to apply to attend a course dedicated to training riders in mountain biking, road cycling, BMX and track cycling.

Up to 24 children from across the world will be accepted onto the course with the program dedicated to involving participants from all different faiths and socio-economic backgrounds.

you might not notice if I do not mention it, but Barteli makes only the 30th person to be tagged a hero on my blog, of 48,200 posts. 



thank you Doug M!

Thursday, February 18, 2021

standing applause for David Gehrke, who was out clearing roads at 4 a.m. in West Bend, Wisconsin last Friday when he found a 5-year-old boy who wandered away from home in subzero temperatures, alone and cold without a jacket or shoes.

For some reason a babysitter was in charge, at 4am on a Friday... odd. But anyway, the kid decided to head outside.... 

and the city snowplow operator, David Gehrke, was not just on the job, but on alert for problems... and hey, he most likely saved the kids life. 5 year olds ain't going to last long until hypothermia gets them. 

https://abc13.com/snow-plow-driver-child-found-saved-reduced/10350414/

the word is that the kid woke up, thought he was alone, and went out to walk to his nearby grandfathers

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

standing applause for Waldo Fidele! who observes every can in his garbage truck's surveillance camera as it gets dumped into the back, and saw a little kid... and saved that kids life by his professionalism and constant attention to duty

A 7-year-old Florida boy who was hiding inside a garbage can, is lucky to be alive after he was scooped up and dumped into a sanitation truck next to a trash compactor.

Elias Quezada escaped Tuesday’s petrifying ordeal without even a scratch, thanks to the very alert and heroic driver

Quezada was playing outside his grandmother’s home in Hillsborough County when he decided to climb in her trash can, he was soon scooped up and dumped into a sanitation truck as it collected trash in the neighborhood.

The garbage truck’s automatic claw scooped up the can and dumped the boy into the bed of the garbage filled vehicle – just inches from the active blade

In a matter of seconds, Elias thought it was going to be “the end” for him.

“I got picked up and thrown to where I was going to be a mashed potato,” he said.

Fidele immediately turned off the truck’s blade and called 911.

But luckily for Elias, the driver was trained to observe every can in the truck’s surveillance camera as it gets dumped into the back. Waldo Fidele said he saw something drop and immediately turned off the truck’s blade. Fidele immediately called 911.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/7-year-old-boy-rescued-after-accidentally-landing-trash-truck-n1257952

https://nypost.com/2021/02/15/florida-boy-hiding-in-garbage-can-survives-sanitation-truck/

https://www.fox13news.com/news/sanitation-worker-saves-life-of-boy-who-hid-in-trash-can-got-tossed-into-garbage-truck

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

On this day in 1945, Audie Murphy climbed a burning tank and blasted Nazis with a 50 cal

On a frigid January afternoon in 1945, Company B, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was attacked on the outskirts of Holtzwihr, France, by six tanks and an estimated 250 German infantrymen, who were determined to wrest the Bois de Riedwihr from the Americans. 

Certain that his decimated company could not withstand the German onslaught, 1st Lt. Audie L. Murphy ordered his men to fall back to safety deep in the forest. After expending all his carbine ammunition at the enemy, Murphy himself prepared to fall back.

 Suddenly, he spotted a .50-caliber machine gun on the turret of a burning tank destroyer. Knowing that his position had to be held at all costs, Murphy climbed on top and began firing the machine gun at the oncoming Germans. He would later be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics.1 day ago

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/01/26/on-this-day-in-1945-audie-murphy-climbed-a-burning-tank-and-schwacked-nazis-with-a-50-cal/

Monday, November 23, 2020

Fire Captain, Paramedic and Tactical Medic in Montrose Colorado, Bill Martindale runs the local chapter of a non-profit that provides handmade beds for underprivileged kids. Respect. Applause for him, and the Decked company for sharing his story


 


Bill is the type of guy you want on your team during a zombie apocalypse. 

Decked is the type of company I like to do free publicity for... because they do cool stuff like this. You've probably seen my earlier posts about them. Very impressive.


and the people making the beds https://www.facebook.com/SHPMontrose ? Sure can use your help, as those kids need some quilts too! 



https://decked.com/blogs/decked/decked-real-customer-bill-martindale

That's some hero work right there, and so Bill gets added to the Hero category in the tags

Sunday, November 01, 2020

Neerja Bhanot saved 360 lives on Pan Am Flight 73 which had been hijacked by terrorists during a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986, just two days before her 23rd birthday.

She alerted the pilots of terrorists and they escaped, so the plane couldn’t take off.

She hid passports to save Americans, the terrorists’ primary targets. After 17 hours, the hijackers decided they had had enough and opened fire, Bhanot worked fast to evacuate as many passengers as she could via the emergency exit. She was shot dead as she shielded three American children from the terrorists. 

Out of the 44 Americans on board, 42 were saved owing to Bhanot’s presence of mind. 

Bhanot’s calm courage and quick instincts led to a slew of posthumous awards, including the Ashoka Chakra — India’s highest peacetime gallantry award. She was the first woman, first civilian, and youngest recipient of the award. 


Her citation states: “Her loyalties to the passengers of the aircraft in distress will forever be a lasting tribute to the finest qualities of the human spirit.” 

Her story continues to inspire young women, and in order to commemorate her courage, Bhanot’s family used the funds from Pan Am to set up the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust. The trust recognises Indian women who overcome social injustice and airline crew members who go beyond the call of duty in a crisis. 

Among other honours, Bhanot was conferred with the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat award by Pakistan, and in 2004, the Indian Postal Service released a stamp in her memory. 

In 2016, Ram Madhvani directed a biopic starring Sonam Kapoor as Neerja. The biopic is a stylised thriller with a few lovely glimpses into Bhanot’s personal life, especially her relationship with her mother (played by Shabana Azmi). The film, too, won a number of awards, including the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Sunday, September 06, 2020

salute to Arkansas State Trooper 1st Class Moomey for sacrifice and heroism, driving head on into a drunk driver on an interstate to prevent the drunk from injuring or killing innocent drivers


On August 8, 2016 Trooper Moomey was in a crash with a wrong way driver on Interstate 40 near Van Buren.

Dash cam from Moomey's patrol car shows the officer approaching a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction. Moomey said he tried to block the speeding vehicle from crashing into other oncoming vehicles.

Moomey was rushed to the hospital and put in the ICU.



After multiple surgeries and physical therapy for a year, Moomey was named Trooper of the Year in June for his heroic actions.


https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/outreach/back-to-school/arkansas-state-trooper-back-to-work-after-year-long-recovery/527-d5d1ab91-303d-4d95-8e46-0f4ecbf968f7

via https://marty101sblog.tumblr.com/post/628455783205568512/this-morning-arkansas-state-trooper-1st-class

Thursday, August 27, 2020

oddly, there is no Wikipedia entry for George Hurst (Thanks Steve!)


 the one guy that added more fun to hot rodding than probably any other, (with only an 8th grade formal education)
The Hurst Armed Forces Club!
the GTO races,
 the Hairy Olds,
 the shifters!
The Jaws of Life!
The Hurst Hemi Under Glass 'Cuda,
the Hurst SC/Rambler,
the Hurst Baja Boot,
the Gasser Passer
the Hurst Shawnee Scout
the Hurst Jeepster,
 the Shifty Doc Watson traveling performance clinic,
and Hurst Super Stock AMXs, Darts, Barracudas,
 the Hurst Olds,
and Hurst Airheart brakes -  who compares to all this?


There is a wikipedia entry for Hurst Performance... it's not very good

George Hurst worked with more car companies than maybe anyone I know of. Jeep, Pontiac, Dodge, Oldsmobile, International Harvester, and AMC.

For a good look through some cool stuff that the Hurst performance company made: https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/cool-hurst-stuff-coming-to-auction-from.html

Born in New York City in 1927, died in 1986, Redlands California, in his garage. Suicide by carbon monoxide.


George's mom, Antoinette, was a naturalized citizen from Kutai Hora Czechoslovakia


His dad was a WW1 Army vet who worked for the National Biscuit Co in New York City



And his paternal great grandfather William Jackson Hurst was born in Ireland, 1818, and came to the USA before the Civil War, and enlisted in the 198th Infantry in Aug 1864, and mustered out a year later in May of 65. Lived in Pennsylvania


Almquist, the author of the sprawling history Hot Rod Pioneers published by SAE International, selected Hurst, his former business associate, as one of the topics in his book. He knew little of Hurst's early years, got his birth city wrong, but other than he was born in 1927, who never went beyond the eighth grade and dropped out of school to join the Navy when he was 16.


And there you have the most thorough info on his life before going into car parts business that the rest of the world is already familiar with. How about that... WW2 air craft carrier duty. I've never heard that before (thanks Steve!) Correction, I forgot, I had posted that he was an Navy Aircraft Machinist https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-frantic-fish.html

After the Navy, 1943-1954, he resettled in eastern Pennsylvania in 1954 and became very active in the local drag racing scene.

His marriage didn't work out and no one even mentions the name of his wife. It was Lila, and they divorced in 1984

When he made Almquist's acquaintance, Hurst and Campbell were working out of a garage outside Philadelphia in Abington, with engine mounts as their lead product, when two problems occurred. First, a California firm began producing copies of their engine mounts. Next, Hurst became separated from his wife.

 In the mid-fifties, he and his friend Bill Campbell started a garage in Abington, Pennsylvania, where they built aftermarket engine mounts for performance cars. Although Hurst’s formal mechanical training was limited, he had an intuitive knack for automotive engineering and, more importantly, was a natural showman with a flair for clever promotions.

Hurst Performance was originally named Hurst-Campbell. The company was established in 1958 as an auto repair shop when George Hurst and Bill Campbell were both young men. An older man named Lawrence Greenwald (who is credited, among other things, as one of the inventors of stretch nylon hosiery), took certain cars from his collection to Hurst's shop for repair. Greenwald saw promise in Hurst and Campbell and decided to finance them in a venture to manufacture large aftermarket bumpers for VW buses, which were becoming increasingly popular.

When Volkswagen began manufacturing its own large bumpers for the buses, Hurst-Campbell branched out into the piston-driven gearshift business.

After some early setbacks, Hurst and Campbell formed a partnership with Jonas Anchel and Ed Almquist, founders of the speed shop Anco Industries. Together, they developed and launched several new products, including a revised engine mount design called Adjusta-Torque and a floor-mounted shift linkage for three-speed manual transmissions.

An agreement between Almquist and Hurst, in which the two decided to focus on aftermarket retailing and component development, respectively, endured for the rest of Hurst's life.


At that point, a new employee of the equally new Hurst Performance Inc., Jack "Doc" Watson, described by Almquist as then a gofer, made a personal connection that would set the company's role in history. Through his mother, Watson made a contact with Pontiac, which ended up selecting a four-speed version of the Hurst shifter as standard equipment for its 1961 Catalina powered by the 421-cu.in. Super Duty engine.

Since Almquist and Anchel were neither willing nor able to put up the substantial amount of capital needed to market the new linkage, Hurst and Campbell obtained a $20,000 loan and established their own company, Hurst-Campbell, Inc., in Warminster, Pennsylvania. It opened for business in 1959.

The hot-rodding and drag racing scene was booming in the late fifties and early sixties and Hurst-Campbell found a ready market for their shifters and shift linkages. Whatever Hurst’s mechanical abilities, his greatest talent was concocting stunts and gimmicks to market Hurst-Campbell products. Hurst sponsored drag racers; offered new cars as prizes for race winners who used Hurst products; and hired a buxom beauty queen named Linda Vaughn as “Miss Hurst Golden Shifter,” paying her to attend racing events in her gold bikini, suggestively caressing giant replicas of Hurst’s signature product. Some of Hurst’s promotional stunts were undeniably effective.

By the mid-sixties, Hurst-Campbell revenues were more than $20 million a year and Hurst shifters had become almost de rigueur among serious enthusiasts.


He was the co-founder of the Hurst Performance Product Co. and was associated with high-performance vehicles and automotive advances, particularly in the area of car transmissions. His Hurst Shifter, a floor-mounted gear shift for performance cars, made him a wealthy man.


Are you fucking kidding me? Do you have an idea how effing rare it is that anyone gives a shit about employees, much less hires anyone with any disability? Damn, this is incredible info, and I've never heard about it either. This seriously sheds light on why Linda has said so many good things about George. She never mentioned this though. Wow... sending a guy work, at his home, so he can keep a job? That's incredible!


The company has since been sold several times, said Chuck Lamerel of American Bristol Co., seller of the jaws of life. The jaws of life tool was originally developed by Hurst in the 1960s to rescue drivers in crashes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then adopted by rescue agencies throughout the country, Lamerel said.

George Hurst wrote a self help book that was published in 1984, "The Perfect You", there are maybe 5 copies for sale online, all for 75 to 125


In March 1984 Popular Mechanics did a paragraph about the transmission George was working out problems with... the problem was that the damn thing wouldn't work yet. Doubtless, it was about a whisker off from being the next must have for racers, like, a Lenco. Keep in mind, the Hurst Lightning Rod shifters... Hurst knew transmissions!


Tragic as his rise and fall are, as far from normal as either gets, he's getting hero status from me for the Jaws of Life invention. That's fair. No less should anyone expect, no more should anyone ask

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-19-me-5971-story.html
https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/hurst-olds-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurst_Performance
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/george-hurst
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hurst-performance-shifters-marketing/
https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/hurst-olds-history/
https://bangshift.com/general-news/gearhead-guys-you-should-know/