Highway Heroes...Truly

I think the word 'hero' is way overused. But in the case of the four Goodyear Highway Hero finalists at the Mid America Trucking Show, it's a fit.

Two of them gave CPR to accident victims who'd suffered serious injuries and called 911 to get help. One of them took care of a young woman until the ambulance came. Her arm had been almost completely severed from her body. He talked to her. He kept her warm. He told her she would make it, and she did.

And one of them-- this year's winner-- pulled an elderly man from a car that was on a railroad track as a train bore down on them. He fought an automatic locking door as the train got closer. He undid the seat belt as the train got closer. He pulled the man out with seconds to spare and then watched the train crush the car.

The winner-- OOIDA member Tilden Curl of Olympia, Washington-- says he is proud to be associated with the other three finalists. They feel a bond. They are part of a very small fraternity that only admits people who have saved another person's life. And while they don't call themselves heroes, they truly are.