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As Christmas 1944 approached, the American forces in the Ardennes Forest were still in disarray and struggling to hold back the German onslaught.
Versions of the story vary, but what is known is that retreating armor came upon a lone infantryman of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment digging a foxhole.
He was scruffy, dirty, and battle-hardened. When he realized the retreating armor were looking for a safe place, he told them, “Well buddy, just pull that vehicle in behind me. I’m the 82nd Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going.”
Hugh offered unbidden to trailer the car to Montana from Canada for Jamie Kitman, Automobile in house grouch and odd car collector.
But first he would have to drive to Red Deer Canada, 265 miles from his home in Medicine Hat. He wouldn’t accept payment for his efforts, other than reimbursement for his gasoline.
It was then learned from the intended shippers in Montana that the 404 absolutely had to run and stop before arriving, and that it wouldn’t be loaded if either didn't. It would sit until it did both. So Hugh decided the only thing to do was to drag it back home to Medicine Hat to fix, which he did, restoring braking facility and troubleshooting the fuel system while rebuilding the carburetor, all at no charge.
He then towed the car the 421 miles to Livingston and dropped it there before driving another 421 miles and enduring another border crossing the following day.
Understand that Hugh Logie is a gainfully employed 41-year-old with a wife, children, and a busy job. But he is a dedicated Peugeot fan. In the name of preserving the marque and furthering its appreciation, he volunteered to spend many days and several evenings working on a car belonging to someone he’d never met.
And he took additional days out of his life to drive more than 1,360 miles, all so Kitman might get his 404 wagon home cheaply.
The Goodyear Highway Hero Award was established in 1983 to honor truck drivers who put themselves in harm’s way to help others.
After the Hero Award nomination period ends on Nov. 29, the list of eligible candidates will be narrowed down to three finalists. A panel of trucking industry judges will later select the Highway Hero and announce all three, and the award winner, at the annual MATS convention
Past Highway Hero Award winners include a truck driver who rescued a family of six from a crushed minivan, a driver who saved a woman from a gun-wielding attacker, and a driver who pulled an elderly man from a car before it was destroyed by an oncoming train.
Owner-operator Mike Schiotis was traveling down a Pennsylvania highway when he spotted a woman being followed by a gun-wielding attacker. Thinking quickly, Mike stopped his truck and stepped between the man and the woman. He ushered the woman into his truck and drove away as the gunman returned to his car and began following Mike's rig. Working with another truck driver, Mike evaded the gunman, giving law enforcement officials enough time to arrive on the scene.
An independent owner-operator, Orozco Sanchez was hauling grain on Oct. 28, 2008 on Highway 392, north of Greeley, CO, when an SUV suddenly crossed the center line and crashed head-on into his tractor-trailer rig.
As the vehicles stopped moving, a shaken Orozco Sanchez quickly jumped from his cab and went to the other vehicle. There, with flames already beginning to surround the vehicles, he saw two girls, strapped into their car seats and crying, and a woman up front who was not moving. Working with a passer-by who used a fire extinguisher to fight back the flames, Orozco Sanchez used his knowledge of child car seats – he has two young children – to rescue the two girls.
Derrick Harris was a Virginia truck driver who saved the life of an individual deliberately set on fire, then helped police locate and arrest the person charged with the hideous crime. Harris, a driver with Schneider since October 2002, was also recognized by his employer with Schneider's Presidential Citation Award.
Todd Forbush crawled on his stomach underneath and into the jammed open door of a pickup truck to rescue the young woman pinned behind the wheel after she fell asleep and slammed at full speed into his UPS truck in rural Ohio. Her truck burst into flames after hitting Forbushs' truck at least three times as the smaller truck spun out of control after the initial impact. Forbush, a career driver for UPS, took less than 10 seconds, according to his truck's computer, to exit the cab and reach the young woman to help her. Today, she has almost fully recovered.
In just over two months, Boyd Applegate participated in life-saving efforts at two accident scenes. Thanks to his quick thinking and willingness to be of help, two motor vehicle accident victims are alive today. In the first incident, Applegate climbed into a steep, rocky ravine in the middle of the night and rescued a driver, thrown clear of his vehicle and hidden among some rocks on the opposite side of the ravine.
In the second incident, Applegate cleared the breathing passage of an L.A. patrolman whose face had been crushed in a car accident that also injured his wife.
Curt Jones, then a resident of Blaine, Tenn., was cited as the first trucker to emblazon his tractor-trailer rig with huge posters of missing children, to point out the plight of runaways. He organized 10 truck convoys to call attention to the need for more awareness of missing children, and began a program of visiting schools urging youngsters to seek counseling instead of running from problems.
