I've collected all 209 issues of QUICK News Weekly magazine, which was published from my birth year, 1949, to 1953. I really enjoy reading these issues, including the wonderful stories of heroes!
June 20, 1949
When an airliner crashed off Puerto Rico with 75 passengers and 6 crew members, Capt. Alfred Cockrell of Pittsfield, Mass., calmed passengers by saying they were near land. Then he saw stewardess Judith Hale of Binghamton, N.Y., couldn’t swim, gave her his own life jacket. When all survivors were rescued, hours later, among the 53 lost was Capt. Cockrell.
Aug. 8, 1949
When armed jewel thief Joseph Quinn fled the Manhattan store he’d just robbed of $368,000 in gems, shoe clerk William Van Zandt gave chase, tackled him, held him pinioned until police arrived. All the loot was recovered. Van Zandt received a reward, and his proud but astonished wife offered a comment: “He never went in for football at all!”
Sept. 5, 1949:
Following a radio plea during a N.Y. ball game for blood donors for anemic Nellie Lombardy, one of the first to respond was Sgt. John Grimm, Jr. He was led by his seeing-eye dog – for Grimm, who holds the Congressional Medal of Honor, was blinded on Iwo Jima while leading his platoon to safety. At the Red Cross Center he said: “I got plasma on Iwo Jima – plenty of it. . . . That girl has a 50-50 chance . . . I had to come.”
Sept. 12, 1949:
Mrs. Earl Dumont, 29, of Georges Mills, N.H., saw her 2-year-old son fall into a well. Although she is pregnant, she stripped and dropped 20 feet after him. Then for 80 minutes, she stood chin-deep in water – grasping the boy with one hand, a projecting rock with the other – until help came.
Nov. 28, 1949:
When fire broke out in the Herbert Davis home in Moorland, Mich., Mrs. Davis was out doing chores; Margaret, 4, was alone with Alice, 2, and Dale, 10 months. Margaret calmly wrapped Dale in a blanket, grasped Alice’s hand and, ignoring the fast-spreading flames, steered both to safety outdoors.
Feb. 13, 1950
Bound on an errand of mercy – the hunt for a C-54 transport plane that had disappeared somewhere in the frozen North with 44 persons aboard – an Army C-47 itself became a casualty by crashing in Canada’s Yukon Territory. The pilot, Lt. Charles Harden, was badly hurt in the accident, but he struggled through five miles of snow to get help. Result: Harden’s five-man crew was saved.
Apr. 17, 1950:
Veteran diver Edward Christiansen, 51, of Oyster Bay, N.Y., was trapped by loose timber under water with his air-release valve jammed. His chance of survival depended on his 23-year-old assistant at the air and signal lines. For 25 minutes, while police and firemen worked to release the diver, the boy took the responsibility of withholding air from him; he reasoned that the risk of suffocation was less than that of exploding Christiansen’s suit with too much air. When the rescuers got the diver up alive, the boy collapsed. He was Christiansen’s son, Norman.
June 12, 1950
Atlanta cab driver Rick Parker, 28, saw a dog, its mouth frothing, headed for a crowded playground. Parker, father of five, tried vainly to block its way with his cab. Then he jumped out, seized the dog with his bare hands and, though bitten, held it until it could be shot. Result: Parker got anti-rabies shots – and the hero-worship of the 82 children he’d protected.
July 24, 1950
For three weeks marauders terrorized Viers Mill, Md. Then Mrs. Mary Schulz, Mrs. Doris Young, Mrs. Martha Newell and Mrs. Warren Leigh armed themselves for action. Result: They caught four men in a gunfire-studded backyard chase, held them till police arrived.
Aug. 7, 1950
As a train backed down a steep grade near St. Charles, Va., Mrs. Carl Woodward saw her 16-month-old son, Jimmy, on the tracks and raced to save him. Brakeman Jim Dowell, 60, was quicker. He jumped down, scooped up Jimmy, pushed Mrs. Woodward to safety – and leaped clear himself.
Dec. 4, 1950
Robert Dixon, 8, was alone in his Seattle home when a burglar began forcing a downstairs window at 4:30 a.m. Unruffled, Robert knocked the intruder out with a monkey wrench, stood guard over him with a knife until police arrived.
July 9, 1951
Comic Red Skelton delivered his top performance before 54 tense fellow-passengers of a four-engine plane – after two of the engines conked out during a flight over the Alps. For 35 minutes Skelton danced and clowned in the aisle, kept the others – including 11 children – calm till the pilot managed a forced landing in Lyons, France.
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