New Heroic Comics #67

When her schoolmate Esther slips into the chilly waters of Lake Erie at Gordon Park, fifteen-year-old Carol Lutz doesn't hesitate—despite being only a fair swimmer herself, she plunges in to save her friend from drowning. But as Carol reaches the panicked girl, she faces a desperate struggle to keep them both afloat and make it back to shore alive.

Patrolman Daniel Holland of Chelsea, Massachusetts faces a split-second decision when a young boy wandering home late from the movies steps directly into the path of an oncoming truck. In this true account of quick thinking and heroic action, Holland must act faster than the vehicle itself to keep a child from tragedy.

When a group of boys from the Madison House Boys Club ventures down to the East River piers on a moonlit night, tragedy nearly strikes as one of them tumbles into the dark water. Fourteen-year-old Frank Shibetti springs into action, diving in to rescue his younger companion while police arrive to assist in the dramatic recovery effort. This true-life account celebrates one young person's quick thinking and courage in the face of sudden danger.

When flames suddenly engulf her Vermont home, Mrs. Bernard Charland faces an impossible choice: a woman with severe mobility challenges must guide her children through a rapidly spreading fire before it cuts off their escape. With clear thinking and unflinching courage, she fights through dense smoke and searing heat to reach safety—but only because she made one crucial decision in those first terrifying moments.

When a taxi suddenly veers off Jamaica Way in Massachusetts and plunges into a pond, fifteen-year-old Robert Maguire finds himself in the right place at the right time—and makes a split-second decision to dive in after the submerged vehicle. This true-life account captures how a young man's quick thinking and courage become the difference between life and death for a cab driver in distress.

When a Western Union messenger named George Dimmitt spots a boy trying to steal a prop gun from a theater equipment box, he knows he has to act—not just to stop the theft, but to keep the young thief from heading down a dangerous path. What unfolds is a fierce struggle backstage that tests George's courage and conviction that sometimes the right thing to do means putting yourself in harm's way.

During a Red Cross lifesaving lesson at Middle Straits Lake, sixteen-year-old Caroline Messer spots a young boy drowning in deep water—unnoticed by everyone else on the crowded beach. Acting on pure instinct and fear, she dives in and pulls him to safety, only to discover that her own courage terrifies her now that the moment has passed. When parents later question how the accident happened under the watch of trained lifeguards, Caroline offers a simple truth: sometimes heroism is just being the one who happens to see.

Young Chris Rouser and his friend spot a suspicious figure breaking into a shoe store through a rear window while heading home from a Halloween party in Lansing, Michigan. Quick thinking and keen observation lead Chris to alert the police, setting the stage for the burglar's capture. The two boys are later honored for their civic bravery by the local police and fire commissioners.

When a Boston schoolteacher named Arthur W. Roberts hears a desperate boy's cries about his sister trapped in a burning house, he races into the smoke-filled building to search for her. After an initial attempt finds nothing, Roberts pushes back inside as the flames spread, determined to locate the young girl before time runs out. This true-life account captures a teacher's courage in the face of a raging fire and a child's miraculous rescue.

When four-year-old Charlene Quast awakes to find her family's home consumed by fire, she doesn't panic—instead, she rouses her two younger sisters, Roberta and Sandy, and leads them to safety out of the blazing inferno. A neighbor's quick thinking helps alert firefighters and their mother, but it's Charlene's calm courage that makes the difference between tragedy and survival in this true account from Berry Lake, Wisconsin.

Maynard Heatherly, a twenty-five-year-old lifeguard in San Diego, springs into action when a woman caught in a powerful undertow cries out for help—only to discover her husband has vanished into the sea. Swimming over three hundred yards through rough waters at night, Heatherly battles exhaustion to keep the woman afloat until rescue arrives, an act of heroism that earns him recognition from the American Legion.

Thirteen-year-old Thomas Milana, still recovering from his own appendicitis surgery, springs into action when a dangerous electrical fire breaks out in the oxygen tent where his aunt lies recovering from a heart condition. Working quickly with his mother, Thomas helps contain the flames and save his aunt's life—a selfless act of courage that puts his own healing at risk.

When an invisible gas seeps into the Ewart family home in Sparta, Wisconsin, Linda Lou Ewart's parents and younger brother succumb to drowsiness and collapse—but the resourceful four-year-old, though fighting off the effects herself, refuses to panic. Summoning all her courage and quick thinking, Linda Lou stumbles across the farm to alert her grandmother, setting in motion a race against time that will determine whether her family survives this unseen threat.

When the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Rockaway finds itself powerless in the waters between Cape Hatteras and Bermuda, Commander James R. Hinnant volunteers to dive into the icy depths to free the fouled propeller—a dangerous task he insists on tackling himself rather than risk his crew. As his men wait anxiously for his return, they witness something inexplicable that sets off a desperate search through the night and into the next day.

When an open gate leads to disaster at a Massachusetts wharf, a three-year-old boy named Alan must think fast to save his baby sister Mary Francis from drowning. This true-life story from 1951 captures a moment of remarkable courage and quick thinking from the youngest of heroes—a child who understood what needed to be done and found the presence of mind to do it.

Robert B. Parsil, a commercial artist from Toledo, Ohio who can't swim, doesn't think twice when he spots a young girl trapped in a water-filled excavation pit near some playing children. Racing against time and his own limitations, Parsil plunges into the murky water to attempt a rescue that could easily end in tragedy for them both.

Patrolman John Galler answers an emergency call to a gas-filled building where three people are trapped, but his heroic efforts to rescue them come at a devastating cost. This true-life tale honors a Newark officer whose decades of selfless service on the beat culminated in the ultimate sacrifice.

Seventeen-year-old Helen Montgomery of Millinocket, Maine accidentally ignites a kitchen fire with gasoline while her younger siblings are trapped inside the cabin with no way out but through the flames. Facing impossible odds and freezing temperatures, Helen must find the courage to lead the children to safety through a wall of fire and across the Maine winter. Based on a true story of survival and quick thinking under the most desperate circumstances.

A Navy quartermaster on leave from the Korean War becomes an unlikely hero when a two-alarm fire breaks out on Staten Island, and Edward T. Kane ventures into the inferno to rescue a teenage girl—the sole survivor of a tragedy that claims five members of her family. With flames intensifying and visibility nearly zero, Kane navigates the burning building through sheer determination to pull her to safety, though the cost of his bravery weighs heavily in the aftermath.