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Sgt. Perkins was just heading home to Missouri when his plans changed. He pulled Willie off the bus and then went right back inside and got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the choking smoke. Feeling the seats in the dark, searching for others. Miraculously, all 52 passengers would survive. (The truck driver was pronounced dead at the scene.)

But out on the thruway, at 1:30 a.m., Willie Blair’s chances weren’t looking so good. Michelle, a security guard in London, used her mother’s bra as a tourniquet for his leg. A helicopter evacuated him from the scene. Mother and daughter, with no money and no ID, were left standing there in blood-soaked clothes, desperate to be by Willie’s side.

“I didn’t think Willie was going to make it,” Sandy says. “And I had to get to the hospital. That’s when Jacob spoke up. He said, ‘Ma’am, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.’”

They piled in the pick-up truck and drove 45 minutes to the hospital in Rochester, N.Y., where they had been told he would be — but wasn’t — before driving another two-plus hours to Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. The soldier spoke quietly as they drove, keeping Sandy and Michelle calm. He bought them cold drinks at a gas station and asked them if they smoked, because he did. When they said they didn’t, he wouldn’t light up.

“And he probably needed two cigarettes after being on that bus,” Sandy says, chuckling. “When we got to the hospital he stayed with us. He sat by my husband’s bed. Jacob did not leave our side until my son and daughter-in-law arrived the next morning.”

At one point Sgt. Perkins phoned home. He didn’t mention the accident to his mother. He only said that he was going to be later than expected, and that he was pretty tired. Sandy offered him money, a coffee. Anything. He said no thanks. They exchanged email addresses, phone numbers and, after a long, hard night, hugged goodbye.

“We were family after what Jacob did for us,” Sandy says “He will tell you that he did what anybody else what do. But it is not true, because 99% of people wouldn’t have done what he did.

“My daughter is getting married this summer. Jacob’s invited. Without him, Michelle’s Dad wouldn’t be there to walk her down the aisle. Without Jacob, our lives would look totally different.

“He is our hero.”

National Post