Alander Baldwin saved Deborah M. VanOchten from drowning, Bay City, Michigan, March 6, 1970. A sedan containing Deborah, 11, her brother and sister, and two adults plunged into the Saginaw River and drifted to 100 feet from the bank. The adults drowned when the vehicle sank; but the three children had reached the surface and were calling for help. Baldwin, 28, machinist, was on the bank and decided to aid Deborah, who was being carried toward midstream. Removing his shoes and jacket, he entered the cold water. He took with him a narrow wooden ramp which had been removed from a nearby dock and which he used as a raft to paddle across the current. Nearing Deborah, who by then was 200 feet from the bank, Baldwin got off the raft and pushed it to her. Because Deborah was too weakened from the cold to hold to the raft, Baldwin reached across it and supported her as they drifted downstream. Stiffness developing in his limbs prevented Baldwin from propelling the raft toward the bank. Meanwhile Deborah’s brother had been saved but her sister had drowned. A Coast Guard boat picked up Baldwin and Deborah. They recovered from effects of the cold water.
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