Anthony Pizatella, 27 deputy sheriff, helped to save J. Donald Donham, 24, student, from drowning, Hammond, West Virginia, July 17, 1954. While swimming in the Tygart River, Donham was caught in a swift current and carried within 15 feet of the brink of a waterfall nine feet high. He barely got footing on the irregular bottom at a small projecting rock 100 feet from the bank, the main current alongside his position being five m.p.h. He had been marooned in the river for an hour when firemen reached the bank with a 14-foot rowboat. Pizatella arrived shortly afterward and volunteered to try to aid Donham in the boat. Dominick J. Biafore, who was among the persons on the bank, realized that Pizatella would need assistance and offered to accompany him. Both men donned life jackets. They boarded the boat 175 feet upstream from the waterfall, and a 300-foot rope held by men on the bank was tied to the bow. A section of the rope 75 feet long was coiled and placed in the boat. Pizatella maneuvered the boat cross current to the opposite bank, and Biafore lowered a grappling hook and anchored the boat. He began paying out rope from the coil as the men on the bank made their way toward the waterfall to permit the rope to drift to Donham. Suddenly the grappling hook came free, and the boat drifted rapidly to the brink of the waterfall. The rope swung within reach of Donham, who got hold of it at the urging of Pizatella and Biafore. The boat rocked violently, and Biafore was thrown overboard and drifted over the waterfall to the lower pool, where the water was highly turbulent. As Pizatella let go of the oars and seized the rope, the boat capsized, striking him in the chest. He lost his hold on the rope and was carried over the waterfall. The rope broke between the boat and Donham, who was drawn to the bank. Biafore drifted 60 feet in the pool to a fallen tree held by the current against two large flat rocks which were 10 feet apart and rose a foot and a half above the turbulent water 165 feet upstream from a 12-foot waterfall. Soon afterward Pizatella, who repeatedly had been submerged near the base of the waterfall, rose at the tree. He was dazed and badly winded. They rested briefly, and then Biafore climbed onto one rock and assisted Pizatella from the water. For more than two hours the men on the bank tried to throw ropes to the rock. Separately Pizatella and Biafore reentered the water and worked their way along the tree to the rock closer to the bank. After nightfall a fisherman cast a line to the rock, and a rope was fastened to the line and was drawn to the rock by Pizatella and Biafore. Working for more than three hours, Pizatella and Biafore made a hole two feet deep in the rock with tools sent to them on the rope and installed a heavy bolt. A cable sent across from the bank was secured to the bolt, and pulleys and an improvised breeches buoy were suspended from the cable. Pizatella and Biafore then were drawn separately to the bank on the buoy. Nearly 12 hours had elapsed since the two men bad left the bank in the rowboat to aid Donham. They were tired and were treated for exposure at a hospital. Donham was fatigued. All recovered. 43232-3949
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