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    Good Samaritan amongst our ranks

    TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

    02.18.2015

    Story by Lance Cpl. Thomas Mudd 

    Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

    TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - George Schadegg, a sports specialist with Marine Corps Community Services, and retired Navy Corpsman of 24 years, has lived in the same home, right off of highway 62, for more than 10 years. On Jan. 14, 2015, at approximately 5:30 p.m., he heard a strange sound as he was making dinner. He looked through his window and saw traffic on the highway slowing down considerably. Not knowing the severity of the situation, Schadegg went down to see if he could help.

    “When I saw the change in the speed of traffic I knew something had happened,” Schadegg said. “I turned off my stove, grabbed a coat and went to see what was going on.”

    It was a three-vehicle accident that started with a rear-end collision. The vehicle hit was forced across the undivided highway and collided, head on, with a third vehicle. When Schadegg arrived, he ran to the first car he could get to.

    “A Marine was helping a man, who was already taken out of one of the cars,” Schadegg said. “Then I heard someone say that there was a baby in one of the cars. I could see gas that had leaked from one of the vehicles and saw something like smoke coming from the front end. My biggest worry was getting the people out in case there really was a fire.”

    Schadegg went over to the car with a family inside and saw his neighbor trying to help evacuate them. After noticing the crying baby strapped into her car seat, he saw the father who asked him to get the child.

    “The car was on its side and my neighbor was trying to get into the car through the back window,” Shadegg said. “I am skinnier than my neighbor and was able to get in. I unstrapped the bottom portion of the car seat buckles and carefully got the baby out of the car.”

    A group of Marines began prying the door open on the vehicle to free a Marine and his wife, who were trapped inside.

    “After they got the door open, I helped the father out of the car,” Schadegg said. “His wife was stuck inside the [vehicle] and was freed with the help of the Twentynine Palms Fire Department.”

    According to Shadegg, many accidents have occurred by his home. He has helped in many, feeling as though has simply done what many others would.

    “I don’t feel as if I had done something special,” Schadegg said. “I did what I had to do. I have seen military [members] get out and take charge in these situations all the time. I believe any military [member] would have gotten out and done something in that situation.”

    Living so close to a busy highway, Schadegg assists in any way he can until first responders arrive to the scene.

    “My help is often anonymous most of the time and that is OK,” Schadegg said. “It makes me feel good, but when all is said and done, I go back up to my house and know that the fire department and paramedics will take care of everything.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.18.2015
    Date Posted: 02.18.2015 11:44
    Story ID: 154728
    Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, US

    Web Views: 117
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN