B. Earl Kester saved Warren W. Dean from drowning, Bridgeport, West Virginia, July 19, 1931. Warren, 14, schoolboy, who held to a suspended wire, swung out from the bank of Palmer Lake, lost his hold, and dropped into water 17 feet deep. He could not swim and sank 25 feet from the bank. Kester, 25, school teacher, whose left arm had been amputated near the shoulder, ran 350 feet to a point opposite Warren and dived toward the spot where he saw bubbles at the surface. Warren, who was close to the bottom, grabbed him by the leg, but Kester freed himself by kicking Warren. Holding Warren by the back of the neck, Kester tried to rise to the surface but could not and feared he would have to leave Warren and rise for air. Finally he got his feet on the bottom and sprang upward, reached the surface, and towed Warren to the bank. Warren then was unconscious but was revived.
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