June 8, 1962 - JFK and RFK Honor 12-year-old Gerald Lee Davis for Bravery

June 8, 1962 - President Kennedy pinned medals today on two boy heroes and a girl who he said might become the first woman President of the United States. He presented Young American Medals to Gerald Lee Davis (pictured between the President and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy), 12 years old, of Ontario, Ore.; Gordon Bernard Kilmer, 15, of Reed City, Mich.; and Mary Ann Kingry, 17, of Saginaw, Mich. Miss Kingry was honored for an exceptional career of service in the Junior Red Cross. After listening to a brief, well-delivered speech of thanks from Miss Kingry in the White House rose garden, the President commented: “Well, the Vice President recently predicted we’d someday have a woman President. I want to say it seems to me that we may have a promising candidate here.” Miss Kingry said that she was “thrilled and also very humbled by this award, because you are honoring countless thousands of other young people who could be here receiving it.” Gerald, one of 7 children, twice plunged through a wall of flame to save his brothers, Mark, 2, and Neil, 4, after he found a raging fire in the upstairs of their home. Gordon, a high school student, saved a friend, Mark D. Seath, 15, from drowning in Wells Lake near their hometown after their sailboat sank.

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