Just in Time

In a conference room of the White House last week, eight boys and a girl, aged eleven to 13, gathered with their parents to await the President. Finally, Dwight Eisenhower strode through the door. Beaming broadly, he presented a special award to each child. The medals and citations were well deserved, for the nine winners, School Safety Patrolmen all, had each been responsible for saving a life. When the President had finished with the children, he turned to their parents. "You must be proud of them," said he.

In the last two decades, the whole country has learned to be proud of the School Safety Patrol. Sponsored by the Automobile Association of America, it really got going in 1922, when President Charles Hayes of the Chicago Motor Club started a program in his home city, eventually persuaded the A.A.A. to back it on a nationwide basis. Today some 500,000 schoolchildren are members, and U.S. motorists have long since grown used to seeing the white Sam Browne belts and shiny badges glistening at school crossings. Largely because of the patrol's work, accidents involving schoolchildren have dropped 35% in 25 years, while the rate for other age groups has nearly doubled. Among the winners of this year's awards:

P: Nancy Cissel, 12, of Silver Spring, Md., spotted a boy in the path of an onrushing car, dashed into the street and pulled him to safety. Nancy was obviously just in time: as the car sped by, it tore her sleeve.

P: William F. Gurney, 12, of West Palm Beach. Fla., saw a girl and boy trying to pick up some books that the girl had dropped on a railroad track. Gurney rushed onto the track, pushed the boy and girl off, then jumped clear himself--just as a train roared past.

P: James Messenger, 11 of Youngstown, Ohio, heard a car skidding toward him on an icy street but stood at his post to flag some other children back. As the children obeyed, the car hit Jimmy and broke both his legs. "Despite his pain," says his citation, "when a traffic officer reached him, James's first thought was to ask if the [other] children were safe."

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