Heroes

Thirty years ago one of the he­adline stories on television news was David Purley desperately trying to save the life of Roger Wil­liamson, whose car had flipped at Zandvoort and had caught fire. The marshals were confused, but Purley stopped his car and wrestled a fire extinguisher from a marshal and did his best to save his friend. Purley failed and that fact always haunted him. He was, however, awarded the George Medal, Britain’s second highest honor for gallantry by a civilian.

Also that year, Mike Hailwood stopped his car in South Africa to rescue Clay Reggazoni from a blazing car. Mike saved Clay’s life and was also awarded the George Medal, though his heroism was never given the same level of publicity because there weren’t television cameras on hand to record it.