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Stepinac's Jack Dailey Honored For Saving An Elderly Neighbor, Baby

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Jack Dailey, a senior at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, was recently honored with the coveted Honor Medal and Crossed Palms award in a recent ceremony of the New York City Boy Scouts and the National Court of Honor for saving an elderly neighbor and toddler from an apartment fire. 

Jack Dailey

Jack Dailey

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Boys Scouts America Troop 240

According to an Oct. 21 New York Daily News article the drama began on Thursday, Jan. 30, when the 17-year old Boy Scout with Troop 240 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx smelled smoke in a neighbor’s apartment upon returning home. When he went to investigate, the woman opened the door and handed the baby to Dailey. Smoke was billowing from the bedroom. 

According to the aticle, Dailey and the neighbor raced to another apartment away from the fire. As he cradled the tot in one hand, he dialed 911. Then he calmly led the neighbors out the window of the 7th-floor unit to the fire escape. The Fire Department put out the fire which gutted the apartment.

Regarding his heroic, life-saving actions and calm demeanor throughout the crisis for which he had been promoted to Eagle Scout — the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve — he said. “I didn’t really think about should I do this or shouldn’t. I just did it.”

Looking ahead, he hopes to one day join the New York Police Department.

“My mom doesn’t want me to be a fireman because it’s too dangerous,” he said.

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