| It was Friday evening, and Larry and Donna Hicks | | | | breathing again," Hicks yelled to the rescue unit on |
| were about to watch the six o'clock news in their | | | | the shore. |
| lakeside home at Palos Verdes Estates outside Troy, | | | | Hicks gripped the wing of the plane with his left hand, |
| Alabama. Hicks was a 52-year-old retired Sergeant | | | | lying on his back in the water, supporting the pilot on |
| Major with the Marines, now working as a | | | | his chest with his right arm to keep his head above |
| conservation enforcement officer for the state of | | | | water. He felt a stinging sensation from the aviation |
| Alabama. He had arrived home from work half an | | | | fuel, which worsened until he was in great pain. He |
| hour earlier, and he and Donna had talked about going | | | | found out later, the top layer of his skin had burned |
| to a movie, but decided against it. | | | | off. |
| The TV news was just starting, when they looked | | | | The rescue unit brought out an extra boat, put the |
| out the window and saw a small plane flying down | | | | pilot on the backboard and floated him to shore. |
| the shoreline of Palos Verdes Lake. | | | | Larry tried to follow the four members of the rescue |
| "I wonder if he knows about the power lines," Larry | | | | team as they walked out of the lake, but his legs |
| said, just as the aircraft suddenly shuddered to a | | | | gave way. He and the pilot were transported to the |
| halt, flipped over, and headed straight down into lake. | | | | Troy hospital. |
| Hicks was already running out the back door as the | | | | While Hicks was being treated for the gasoline burns |
| plane hit the water, yelling behind to his wife, "Call | | | | on his upper body, he heard the helicopters arrive to |
| 911! I'm going to see if I can help the pilot." | | | | airlift the pilot to the University of Alabama Medical |
| Fortunately, Larry's brother, Wayne, had left a | | | | Center in Birmingham. After a decontamination |
| 14-foot aluminum johnboat, with an electric trolling | | | | shower, Hicks was released. |
| motor, at the lake in preparation for bass fishing that | | | | Word was out almost immediately that a light plane |
| day, then had not shown up. Donna made the call to | | | | had crashed, piloted by celebrity Jack Roush, |
| 911, and ran outside in time to see Larry | | | | NASCAR and Winston Cup car owner since 1988. An |
| commandeering the johnboat, headed toward the | | | | aircraft aficionado, friends of Roush had arranged for |
| Air-Cam, which was about 100 yards off shore. | | | | him to fly the Air-Cam, a specialized aircraft built |
| Years before, when Hicks had been stationed at the | | | | specifically for photography, as a birthday gift. |
| Marine Air Corps Station in Iwakuni, Japan, he had | | | | Roush was initially put on a respirator, with a trauma |
| spent two-and-a-half months, part time, in an intense | | | | team working on him. He had inhaled water and |
| Search and Rescue program. A major got him into it | | | | gasoline and suffered closed-head injuries, rib |
| because he thought Hicks would be good at it since | | | | fractures, a collapsed lung, compound fractures to his |
| he was muscular and into weight building. The training | | | | left leg, and broken ankles. He did not remember |
| was specifically directed toward saving pilots who | | | | anything from the time of the accident until he woke |
| had gone down in water in fixed-wing or rotary-wing | | | | up in the hospital that weekend. |
| planes. Hicks learned how to get pilots out of planes | | | | Amazingly enough, six days after the accident, Roush |
| that had crashed upside down. However, he | | | | was running his business by telephone from his |
| remained in the telecommunications unit, and never | | | | hospital bed. By Sunday, he had arranged for Larry |
| had the opportunity to use his specialized training. | | | | and Donna to be flown by private jet to Birmingham, |
| The engine of the Air-Cam was hot when it hit Palos | | | | Alabama, to visit him. |
| Verdes Lake, and the airplane was smoking in the | | | | Six weeks later, Roush piloted a plane from his |
| water. High octane aviation fuel from a ruptured fuel | | | | Michigan home and hobbled around on crutches at |
| tank floated over the surface making greasy | | | | Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, |
| patterns. The back half of the aircraft and a broken | | | | overseeing his four-car Winston Cup team. Larry and |
| wing were sticking up from the water. Hicks climbed | | | | Donna were by his side. |
| out of the boat onto the wing and tethered a line to | | | | Larry Hicks has no doubt that a Higher Power was at |
| the plane to keep the boat from floating away. The | | | | work in Jack Roush's incredible rescue. If the Air-Cam |
| heavy smell of gas assaulted his nostrils. It was only | | | | had hit the high tension power lines instead of the |
| later that he thought about the danger of the plane | | | | support wires as it did, the plane would have gone |
| blowing up. | | | | down in flames. If it had crashed on the ground or hit |
| The water was murky, and Hicks had trouble getting | | | | a tree in the underwater stump field where it landed, |
| his bearings underwater. The plane had crashed in the | | | | Roush would have been killed instantly. If Larry and |
| middle of an underwater "stump field," but luckily had | | | | Donna had gone to a movie that evening, as they |
| missed hitting any trees. The first time down, Hicks | | | | had discussed, or simply been in another part of the |
| ran out of air and was forced back to the surface | | | | house, they would not have seen the plane go down, |
| without locating the pilot. The second time, he felt | | | | and Jack Roush would have died. If Wayne Hicks had |
| the back of the man's neck under his hand. After | | | | not left the johnboat ready to go, there would have |
| another trip to the surface, he took a deep breath, | | | | been no rescue. |
| and descended a third time. | | | | But, most amazing of all, Hicks was one of a small |
| Larry's military training--the repeat drill of what to do | | | | percentage of the populace with the specialized |
| until it became second nature--took over: "Locate | | | | knowledge necessary to save a pilot in an |
| Pilot, Extract Pilot . . ." Hicks felt for the pilot's | | | | upside-down plane from a watery grave. And, one |
| seatbelt; fortunately, it was one he recognized by | | | | other thing was necessary to save Jack's life, which |
| feel from his training in the military. He released the | | | | is that Hicks is a man of action who did not hesitate |
| belt, and the pilot floated into his arms. Hicks swam | | | | to put himself at risk to save a stranger's life. |
| to the surface, pulling the man with him. The pilot had | | | | Epilogue |
| bones sticking through his legs, and his feet were | | | | Larry Hicks was recognized with many honors as a |
| turned the wrong way. | | | | result of his heroic rescue of Jack Roush, including |
| The man was bleeding through the nose and mouth, | | | | the Marine Corps Medal of Heroism, the Carnegie |
| and was no longer breathing. He had drowned. The | | | | Award for Heroism from the Carnegie Foundation, |
| Troy police had arrived on the lake bank by now. | | | | the Kiwanis International Robert P. Connally Medal for |
| Larry yelled to the officers,"He's not breathing," and | | | | Heroism, and the Society of the Sons of the |
| he heard one police officer say to another, "He's | | | | American Revolution Medal for Heroism. The story of |
| dead." | | | | the rescue appeared in People magazine, and Larry |
| Hicks hauled the man up against the wing that was | | | | and Jack were on the cover NASCAR Illustrated. |
| sticking above the water and put a modified Heimlich | | | | Larry exhibits great pride that he lived up to the |
| maneuver under his ribs and pulled up to get the | | | | United States Marine Corps Code of serving his |
| water out of his lungs, then started modified CPR. | | | | country with Honor, Courage, and Commitment, with |
| The inert figure coughed up water and blood, then | | | | selfless service. |
| on the fifth breath, started to breathe. "I've got him | | | | |