It was just another day for Chuck Prentice and LeRoy Ambulance.

"So, this all started from an accident that we responded to back on Memorial Day of this year," he said.

"I just got back from visiting my old squad leader's grave in Ohio," said Robert Ciaccio, who first served in the United States Marine Corps and is now an Army Guardsman. "When I was on my way back I felt like the back of my car just exploded. I got slammed across three lanes into the median."

With a little bit of luck, and some safety precautions, what could have been sheer disaster was somehow avoided. When you take a look at the vehicle, it's even harder to believe.

"So when we arrived on location, the traffic on the thruway was already backed up at a pretty good distance," said Prentice.

Ciaccio and his service dog Ace are in good health, but not out of the woods just yet, especially with a drill weekend coming up in his home state of Massachusetts.

"The trooper said that he could only get my ride as far as the Henrietta exit," Prentice remembered. "So that's not really going to help him, he's going to strand him down the road. So my partner and I, we decided, we're going to take him to the airport ourselves, and that's where that's where we got him a rental car and sent him on his way."

A $105 bill isn't the biggest dent in a lot of people's wallets, but it's a priceless sum for a guy like Ciaccio just looking to get home in one piece.

"I couldn't be more thankful for them because they went above and beyond for me," said Ciaccio. "Even like being out of the service, like active, I still have a small community of people that are, you know, going to be there for me."

"I've been in his spot, maybe not in a motor vehicle accident and stranded, but I've been stranded, and I've had people help me out in the past,” Prentice said. “And so helping him out was not a question he needed. He was in a bad spot, and we needed to get them out of it.”

And that's why Chuck Prentice is your 2023 Red Cross Real Hero Good Neighbor.