U.S. Army Capt. Dennis Edwards received the Army’s highest peacetime award for valor yesterday, because he rescued two drivers out of their burning vehicles after a traffic accident in Texas last January, the Department of Defense announced today.
Edwards saw two cars collide in an intersection where he was stopped. He pulled one driver out of the car through the passenger door, because the driver’s side of the car was already on fire. With the help of other people in the vicinity, he also pulled the second driver out of that burning vehicle.
“I couldn’t believe that both vehicles had burst into flames,” Edwards told the American Forces Press Services (AFPS). “As I approached the first vehicle, all I could think to myself was that I had to react quickly to get both of the drivers out of those vehicles.”
For his efforts, Edwards earned the Soldier’s Medal, given for actions that “involved personal hazard or danger and the voluntary risk of life under condititions not involving conflict with an armed enemy,” explains the AFPS.
Edwards’ superior officer, Army Lt. Col William Huff, said that he “had called in late that morning and hadn’t mentioned anything about the accident.”
