A 79-year-old grandmother was carried more than a mile to safety by a U.S. Air Force veteran after she fell and broke her leg in three places during a solo walking trip in Washington.
Tacoma resident Ursula Bannister went up the High Rock Trail on Aug. 28 to lay flowers for her mother, whose ashes were scattered in the area years ago. Bannister told NBCBoston You'll be hard-pressed to find better views than those at the top of High Rock, although getting there is quite a challenge. Although he considered himself an experienced hiker, having made the trip many times in the past, Bannister caught his foot in a hole during the descent and was seriously injured.
“When I sat down, my foot was pointing in the wrong direction,” he recalled Washington Post. “I knew immediately that my leg was broken. I tried to get up with my walking stick, but it collapsed on me.”
A stranger arriving at the scene called 911, but it would take up to five hours for search and rescue teams to reach the scene. Shortly after this, two more hikers came across Bannister. One of those men was U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Troy May, who is currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, according to the U.S. Air Force.
May and his friend Layton Allen decided to move Bannister themselves. “If I could get him out it would be a lot quicker for him and save him some pain,” May said. NBC. The two men helped each other “carry Bannister 1.6 miles down a steep trail,” a journey that took the group about three hours.
The men stated that they were trying to get the victim to talk to distract from his disturbing injuries. “He had a lot of great stories,” May said. “We were trying to get him to talk to get the walk going… we really had a full team.” When they arrived at the parking lot, they took Bannister to a nearby hospital. His leg is now fixed with 10 screws and a metal plate to aid the healing process.
On September 9, May received the Air Force Achievement Medal for his heroic efforts. “I was at the right time to do it that day,” he said NBC. Bannister told Mail May and Allen “acted like angels from heaven… I was grateful that these guys were willing to do this,” he said. “We're going to be friends for a really long time.”