"My wife & I were the two people rescued by these two great young men. We were hit by an out of control rental car who was exiting RT 279 while we were entering the highway. The rental car was coming up the exit ramp and without slowing down it crossed over 4 lanes a traffic and hit my Suburban at the gas tank. My car did a complete barrel roll and landed on the driver's side. My wife had put her hands on the ceiling of the car as we were rolling and her hand became lodged inside the car door. We were both hanging by our seat belts. We smelled gas. I released my seat belt and kicked out the windshield. I started to yell for help. My wife released her seat belt and was now dangling with her hand stuck in the door. I yelled for help again and out of nowhere came these two good Samaritans and asked me what they could do.
"With my wife screaming, I pleaded with them to climb on top of the car and try and open the passenger door. The smell of gas was getting stronger. With total disregard for their own safety one of the boys jumped up on the car. He started to pull on the car door as it had been crushed in the roll over. On his second pull the door opened and my wife was able to pull her hand out. The other fella helped me and my wife away from the car. They both started to check us of injuries and helped remove glass from my head and back. They stayed with us until the police and EMT should up. I wrote the attached letter to the Supe and am very happy to hear the school has recognized their actions.
"Luckily we were not seriously hurt, and as I got a good look at our good Samaritans I knew immediately that they were military. I asked them if they were Army or Navy and they informed me that they were plebes from B1 at West Point. My wife later learned their names were Liam Lynch and I believe James Vogel. I wrote a letter to the Superintendent and am very happy to hear the school has recognized their actions.
"As a graduate from the Class of 1980 and a father of a member of Class of 2015, I cannot be more proud of these two future members of the Long Gray Line. As my wife says fate had us in this terrible accident, it was fate that put these two special cadets in our path on Sunday morning. We thank God they were there and we thank you for training them so well. Thank you and the Academy Staff for doing a great job inspiring our future leaders of character. These two young men definitely have it."