Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
Ask Us: Why was Clifford Hagle a local hero?
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ReprintBy Judee Sharon
There are other Los Baños heroes whose stories have gone unrecognized. Clifford R. Hagle saved an accident victim by plugging a gaping neck wound.
On the sweltering day of Aug. 18, 1971, Mr. Hagle, who worked for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company as an electricity technician, was called out to a maintenance site on the corner of Ingomar Grade and Henry Miller Road.
Since the trouble involved some malfunction with the workings of a railroad guidance lights, he met up with the Southern Pacific's signal maintenance official, Bill Finley. Together they tried to locate and fix the problem.
While these two men were looking for the problem, a small pickup truck rounded the corner coming from Ingomar Grade; the occupants of the pickup, Allen Herman and companion Barbra Allen, noticed Mr. Finley and waved before turning the corner into Henry Miller Road going east. That's when everything went wrong.
After some discussion, both men found the problem site at a nearby transformer pole, and Mr. Hagle prepared to climb it. Just as he was about to climb the pole, Mr. Finley yelled to Mr. Hagle that the pickup that had just passed them had gone off the road.
The men watched the truck to see whether it would right itself and come back onto the road once again; that unfortunately never happened. While Mr. Hagle and Mr. Finley watched, the pickup flipped over and slid several feet into an electrical pole.
By an act of fate, Barbra Allen, unharmed for the most part, pushed herself out of the truck and screamed for someone to help. Mr. Herman, on the other hand, stumbled out of the overturned truck himself, but he was horribly hurt. Apparently a vein in his neck had been slit and was freely oozing blood.
Mr. Hagle ran to the two victims and began to apply pressure to Mr. Herman's neck wound while at the same time grabbing his radio and sending out a signal for an ambulance and the California Highway Patrol. Mr. Finley drove Mr. Hagle's big maintenance truck over to the accident site and parked the truck right over the two victims to provide them shade.
The report from PG&E that I read about the accident never mentioned when the ambulance arrived, but Mrs. Hagle (who gave me the report and told me about her husband) said that Mr. Hagle stayed with Mr. Herman, applying pressure to the wound for a long while. That was a feat itself considering the seriousness of the wound and the heat of a late August day. Mr. Hagle's hand cramped up so badly it was partially paralyzed for a while.
Mr. Hagle remained with Mr. Herman until the ambulance came and took him to the Los Baños Community Hospital. I can happily say that both Mr. Herman and Barbra Allen survived. I believe that Mr. Herman survived mainly due to Clifford Hagle's emergency aid.
Mrs. Hagle also told me that Herman's family sent a letter to the PG&E company branch in Los Baños that September thanking the "man who had saved the life of our son and brother." In turn, PG&E commended Mr. Hagle for his "cool thinking" and his "appropriate actions at the time in stopping the flow of blood and saving the young man's life."
Although Clifford R. Hagle only received that letter in recognition of his heroic actions in saving a life, it is easy to see that there was some sincere gratitude from the Herman family. The Herman's were never able to meet with Mr. Hagle in person, but their letter expresses how they felt.
It took 39 years for Mr. Hagle's actions to be recognized by the community (i.e. the "Ask Us" column), but finally the citizens of Los Baños can learn about Clifford Hagle's heroic accomplishment that day!
Author's Note: Mr. Clifford Hagle has since passed away. Mrs. Hagle, I hope this article did justice to your late husband and what he did that day. Thank you for sharing his story with us!
"Ask Us" is produced by Tim McNally's Advanced Placement American Government class. Do you have a question about the history of Los Baños? Submit it to Mr. McNally's class by e-mail to tmcnally@losbanosusd.k12.ca.us.