When an EF-4 tornado caught the Baker family’s car near Marietta, Oklahoma, and a massive tree trapped his badly injured parents inside, 9-year-old Branson Baker faced the most terrifying moment of his young life. Despite being “really, really scared,” the brave fourth-grader looked at his parents with broken backs and necks and promised “Don’t die” before sprinting away from the wreckage to find help. Branson ran as fast and as hard as he could through tornado debris, covering an entire mile in just 10 minutes to reach assistance for his family.
His father Wayne, who was on the phone with his brother Johnny when the tornado struck, praised his son’s incredible courage, saying “not many adults would have done what he did” after witnessing the boy’s lightning-fast response to the crisis. Uncle Johnny rushed to the scene after hearing hailstones and a loud “boom” before the phone went silent, calling 911 just as Branson returned with help from his desperate rescue mission. Wayne is recovering from back, neck and arm injuries while mother Lindy remains hospitalized, but both parents are alive thanks to their son’s heroic actions. As Wayne told a news network, Branson “had to become his parent’s superman,” and that’s exactly what this remarkable 9-year-old accomplished when it mattered most.
