Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis saving the world
Stars & Stripes tells the story of Staff Sergeant Nicholas “Bruce” Davis, an artilleryman with the C Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, who has just returned with his unit from the mean streets of Mosul, Iraq to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Last June, he was driving with his son to Chattanooga when he saw a man standing alongside the road near an overturned car;
“On my way up to the car, I had noticed an engine fire that started,” he said in the statement.
After checking to see that the people in the car — Rick and Sharon Steiert — were both conscious, he used a glass-breaker on his pocket knife to shatter the car window. He noticed a gas can pouring into the passenger compartment, tossed it away from the vehicle and got inside the burning wreck to help the couple exit.
“As soon as I started doing all that the whole car [was] just engulfed in flames,” he said. “I felt it wrapped around my body.”
Like the DC Comics character The Flash, he said, he quickly pushed the man out of the vehicle and pulled the woman through a tight door opening. She was on fire from her waist down and he soon noticed his leg was also burning.
He snuffed out the fire on his own leg and used his shirt to battle the flames on Sharon Steiert before someone else showed up with a fire extinguisher. After putting out the flames, which kept reigniting on the woman’s pants, they moved away from the burning vehicle to await emergency responders.
SSG Davis suffered severe burns to his own legs from his fearless rescue of the elderly couple. He’s been nominated for a Soldiers’ Medal.
“He’s just an all-around good soldier,” [1st Lt. Charles Trumpfheller, Davis’s platoon leader] said in the statement. “He’ll do anything for anybody and really I mean he’s one of those [noncommissioned officers] who you can count on to get things done.”
From the Fort Campbell Courier;
For Davis though his job is not done as he helps Rick and Sharon make it through a difficult recovery that will have an impact on them not only physically, but financially.
“I’m just trying to help them get any kind of donation that anybody can be willing to give, because … [they] might have been insured and stuff and so the other person might have had insurance that’s going to pay for a little bit, but I know how expensive medical bills can get,” he said. “I know she’s been in [the hospital] over 30 days and she’s in ICU getting wound care every day. Physical therapy and multiple surgeries are going to be a lot.”
Category: Real Soldiers
BZ to SSG Davis… a real hero!
BZ SSgt Davis.
A man who knows that helping doesn’t stop with just saving a life, but continues until the victims are back on their feet and in the fight.
<3
Anybody who keeps going while he’s burning is a hero. On top of that, he’s still stepping up to them out financially!
SSG Davis is a credit to the Army. I’m honestly in awe of this man’s quality!
Feeling yourself on fire tends to make you focus on only that. Great job taking care of them while ignoring it!
BZ SSGT Davis.
Why do I get the feeling that he clangs when he walks?
The quality of this young man’s soul just blesses my socks off. Very well done to him and the others who helped.
Great start to the weekend!
Well done SSGT Davis. Damned well done.
I’ll be looking forward to reading about his well deserved award here. I had an NCO like that, who was also awarded the soldiers medal. Unfortunately, he fell in Iraq.
Definitely a Soldier’s Medal Candidate. BZ!
The old joke:
To get a Soldiers Medal something has to be on fire.
In this case it was the victim and himself!
Good job SSG!
Way to go Kid !!!
Damn! Fine Job SSgt Davis.