Wow, that's a great story, Lilo. You must be very proud of your dad.

My dad had something of a different denouement:
He was a NYC fireman. One day in 1955, while his fire company was on building inspection, he spotted a toddler sitting on a a sixth-floor window ledge across the street. Without hesitating, he ran to the building. The toddler fell just as he got there, and my Dad caught him in his arms. This story got talked up in that Brooklyn neighborhood (Bed/Stuy), and the Daily News sent a reporter and photographer to our apartment in Brownsville. They interviewed my Dad, and took a photo of him holding my brother (who was five, not a toddler) in his arms in the way he caught the kid.

We were dying for the story to run. When it did, they not only didn't use the photo, but they spelled his first and last name wrong! Andy Warhol said everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. My Dad had his 15 minutes, I guess...