Disabled Navy Vietnam veteran saved from burning house

Vietnam vet who is disabled rescued from Schenectady fire
WNYT News 13
March 28, 2018

SCHENECTADY – A Navy Veteran who served in Vietnam is being treated at the Westchester Medical Center’s Burn Unit, according to his nephew. Fire broke out inside Rick Batcher’s house at the corner of Fifth Ave. and Glendale Pl. in Schenectady around 7:00 a.m. Wednesday.

Neighbors knowing Batcher, 69, has a prosthetic leg rushed up the block in the Mont Pleasant section of the city to get him out. Clarence Cohen and his son-in-law tried to break in the door to save the man they called “Ricky.”

"He must have made it right to the door because when I kicked the door in it went on top of him,” Cohen said.

Batcher has lived at his house for 30 years. He is a Life member of VFW Post 357 in Schenectady. He was initially taken to Ellis Hospital, rerouted to Albany Medical Center and then flown to the Westchester Medical Center’s burn unit and in critical condition.
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