Glynn County GaArchives Obituaries.....McGregor, Donald Eugene December 13, 1964 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Amy Hedrick http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00013.html#0003209 November 4, 2005, 6:40 pm 14 December 1964; The Brunswick News; pg. 12 cols. 2, 3, & 4 Donald McGregor, 20, Dies; Accident Injuries Fatal To Bravery Medal Winner         A 20-year-old Brunswick youth who received the Young American Medal for Bravery from the late President Kennedy at the White House for a dramatic sea rescue, died here last night of injuries sustained in a wreck on Glynn Avenue that also injured three other persons.         The car in which the youth was a passenger had been drag racing shortly before the accident, city police said.         Donald Eugene McGregor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest M. McGregor of Fancy Bluff, died at 11:45 p.m. in the Brunswick hospital of head injuries received when a northbound auto driven by Myron M. Pegram, 19, of 147 Waycross Highway, went out of control just south of the Brunswick marina, knocked down eight posts of the median fence and overturned, according to officers R.E. Tayloe and D.A. Toler.         Pegram received a cut on the ear, and McGregor was pinned in the wreckage.  Officer Tayloe received a minor back injury freeing  him, police said.         When the Pegram auto hit the fence about 4 p.m., a 20-foot section of pipe from it was propelled javelin-like into the windshield of a southbound  1958 model car driven by Garrett P. Raymond, 48, of Starke, Fla., who received a hand laceration, police said.  Raymond's wife, Mrs. Ethel S. Raymond, suffered a bruised neck, and a third occupant, Jimmy Crossy Jr., received a cut on the forehead police said.         According to witnesses, including five youths in a following vehicle which police said had been involved in a drag race with the Pegram car shortly before the accident, the car in which McGregor died went out of control on the rain-swept highway as Pegram applied the brakes, officers said.         Pegram since May of last year has forfeited three bonds totaling $90 on charges of speeding, reckless driving and improper muffler, police records show.         In addition to the medal pinned on him by President Kennedy March 23, 1961, McGregor on the same day was awarded the Carnegie Hero Medal by former Congresswoman Iris Blitch.         The medals recognized McGregor's rescuing a family of four from drowning when their sloop began breaking up after becoming grounded July 20, 1959, off Cumberland Island.         McGregor, then 15, voluntarily left the fishing boat he was on and boarded the sloop.  In an ensuing three-hour battle with the sea, he swam ashore and got help after an adverse tide halted progress of the rest of the life-jacketed party--Mr. and Mrs. Harold Clark, of Jacksonville, Fla., and their two children Robin and Christine.  McGregor also received the Coast Guard's Silver Lifesaving Medal.         Funeral services for McGregor will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the First Methodist Church, with the Rev. James T. Pannell officiating, assisted by the Rev. Bernard Brown.  The burial will be in the churchyard of Emanuel Methodist Church, of which McGregor was a member.         Surviving besides McGregor's parents are four brothers, Robert M. McGregor, Roland McGregor and James Gordon McGregor, all of Brunswick, and Randall McGregor, stationed with the Navy at Milton, Fla.; and two sisters, Mrs. Brenda Davis, Brunswick, and Mrs. Joan Davis, Binghamton, N.Y.         Active pallbearers will be Bobby Stubbs, Joe McCants, Charles Skarpalezos, Cappy Pegram, Danny O'Quinn, Johnny McClurd, Kenny Mobley and Phil McDonald.  Honorary pallbearers will be Billy Hammond, Gene Spaulding, Buddy Owens, Mike Friedmann, Charles Shierling, L.E. Chapman Jr., and Buddy Andrews.         McGregor was attending the University of Georgia extension unit at Brunswick College, and had attended Rinehardt College at Waleski. Tuesday 15 December 1964; pg. 16 col. 5 Judge Delays Fatal Mishap Traffic Hearing         A hearing for two Brunswick youths on charges of driving recklessly prior to the traffic death here Sunday of 20-year-old Carnegie Hero Medal winner Donald Eugene McGregor was postponed until 10 a.m. Friday to give members of the victim's family an opportunity to be present.         "I wouldn't want to dispose of this case until some member of the family has an opportunity to be present," said Recorder's Court Judge Phil S. Ringel in deferring the cases of Myron M. Pegram, 19, of Rt. 1, and Harry Myers, 18, of 44 Patton Dr.         McGregor's funeral was today at 2 p.m. at the First Methodist Church, with interment in the Emmanuel Methodist Churchyard at Brookman.         Pegram and Myers had been drag racing shortly before the crash of Pegram's auto into the median fence of U.S. 17 just south of the Brunswick marina, police said.         McGregor, a passenger in the Pegram vehicle, subsequently died of head injuries.  A length of pipe flew off the fence and speared through the windshield of another car, injuring the three occupants.         Also in court today in connection with the case were four other youths who were passengers in the Myers vehicle and who were given summons as witnesses.  Including attorney Anthony A. Alaimo and parents of the involved youths, some 20 persons were in court in connection with the case.         McGregor was awarded the Young American Medal for Bravery, the Carnegie Hero Medal and the Coast Guard's lifesaving medal for the dramatic sea rescue of a family of four from a sloop grounded off Cumberland Island July 20, 1959. Additional Comments: More Glynn County Genealogy & History can be found at www.glynngen.com or the sister site at www.rootsweb.com/~gaglynn/ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/glynn/obits/m/mcgregor3093gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.2 Kb