WEST WHITELAND — Theodore Ham died a hero.
But don't look for his story to be made into a movie, or for Chester County to erect a plaque to recognize the 25-year-old Oxford man.
No, his kind of heroism often goes unnoticed in today's world.
It was on a sunny Thursday morning, exactly two weeks ago, that Ham was working at his job at Pentron Inc., a tank-repair shop in West Whiteland, when another employee came running for help.
The shop's foreman, Lonnie "J. R." Baird, who'd been missing for the last 20 minutes, had just been found unconscious, lying in the bottom of a truck tanker.
According to police, Ham and several others ran to Baird's aid. Climbing onto the tank, Ham lowered himself into the container, grabbed his friend and managed to hoist him up to his co-workers.
But no sooner had Ham lifted his unconscious friend up than he, too, passed out. And though fellow employees would succeed in getting Ham out of the tank, it proved too late.
Four days later, Ham would be dead - a victim of the same poisonous gas that had overcome J. R. while in the tank and caused his death.
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Carman Ham sits at a kitchen table, tearing into little pieces a bunch of grape stems. She has two young sons and is pregnant with her third.
Next to her is Ted's mother, Eva Kline Ham.
"Doctors from here to Philadelphia, they told us that he was a hero - that he put his friend's life above his own," she said.
Carman nods her head.
"That's just the kind of person Ted was," she said of her late husband.
Her thoughts go back to last Christmas, when a little boy down the street got his leg caught in his new bike. Ted heard the cries for help and spent nearly half an hour trying to free the child's leg.
"If it was to come down again (to saving J. R.'s life), he'd do it all over again," she said.
Robin Baird sits across from Carman. Her late husband is the man whom Ted died trying to save.
"They were buddies," said Robin. "Neither of them would've thought twice."
J. R. Baird and Ted Ham were indeed friends, both on and off the job.
With their families, they lived just several miles from each other in Oxford. They shared a love for the outdoors, Ted as an avid deer hunter and J. R. as someone who relished his farm and quarter horses.
They also had a special passion for motorcycles.
"They were always trading motorcycle parts," said Robin, and always wearing black Harley Davidson T-shirts.
Police say they still don't know the whole story surrounding the deaths of J. R. and Ted. The autopsies won't be done for another week, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency charged with ensuring the safety of the nation's workplaces, is still conducting its own investigation into the accident.
For now it is thought that the two men were overcome by fumes from the poisonous gas, hydrogen sulfide, that is believed to have been in the tank, according to Sgt. Richard Kasper of the White Whiteland Police Department.
Kasper said the tank was brought in for repair by Matlack Inc., a trucking company based in Wilmington.
Late Monday, Matlack officials released a statement saying it wouldn't be appropriate to comment until the investigation had been concluded.
"I can tell you that we have been assured by Pentron that the utmost safety precautions are being taken in their daily operations," Matlack vice president Jim Humphrys said in the statement.
Baird and Ham weren't the only Pentron employees who were affected by the fumes. Six other workers were taken to the hospital for treatment and released.
C. Rodney Thompson was the man who grabbed Ted Ham and helped hoist him out of the tank. To do this, Thompson allowed himself to be suspended, head-first, into the container, while others held on to his legs.
Though he was in the tank for only a few minutes, Thompson also passed out, but was later revived at the scene.
As for J. R. Baird and Ted Ham, their families say they know they will continue to stick together just as they did in life.
"We kind of joke," said Robin. "We don't know what they'll get up to, up there (in heaven). J. R. probably has a big ranch up there, and Ted's probably hunting on it."
