Two guys, one dressed as Batman and the other as Captain America, were busy entertaining children at an American Legion charity event in Milton, West Virginia, when a fire broke out at a nearby house. Batman, aka John Buckland (pictured), who had been a firefighter in Georgia and Iraq, along with his partner, Troy Marcum, broke into the house to make sure no one was inside. The homeowners were gone, but Batman did find a cat amidst the smoke, which he promptly brought outside to give feline cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (that’s doctor talk for cat CPR).
The cat’s breathing was labored, so Buckland began to give the pet mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the front lawn.
“When that cat woke up, it immediately started swatting and hissing at me,” he said. “It had a giant bat in its face, so I couldn’t blame it.” [Herald-Dispatch]
An Iraq veteran doing charity work dressed as batman gave a cat CPR and even had a witty catchphrase afterwards? Honestly, this guy should be president. Women should sleep with him out of patriotic duty. Hell, I’d sleep with him. I’m not gay, but I love America.
And because it happened in West Virginia, the news report on it was an instant classic:
VOICEOVER: “Police were shocked to see who beat them to the scene.”
FIREMAN: “Batma-yan, and wut is it, Robin or wutever his name is?”
Here’s an amazing picture of the cat CPR.
The Milton and Ona volunteer fire departments were able to extinguish the fire, but the house was deemed a total loss. The fire was believed to have been started because of electrical problems, but it is still under investigation.
No one was home during the fire, and Buckland, Marcum and Carr walked away unscathed except for a rip to the Gotham Knight’s cape.
“I was able to talk to the owner after she got to her house,” Buckland said. “She was glad we were able to rescue her cat, but she said there were two more in the house. I know it was a devastating feeling for her.” [Herald-Dispatch]
Aw, that’s sad. But at least those cats did not die in vain. They gave all 18 lives to provide us with possibly the greatest human interest piece in the history of local television.
Troy Marcum proved that not every guy dressed as Captain America wants to grope women with burritos in his pants. Some of them are real heroes.