Brian T. Szyndlar saved Walter E. Tomkiewicz from drowning, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, June 15, 1982. Tomkiewicz, 48, struggled in the water of Buzzards Bay after the boat from which he had been fishing capsized 600 feet from shore. Szyndlar, 24, logger, swam with his fishing pole to the boat, then swam another 120 feet to Tomkiewicz, who had been carried farther away. Using the pole, Szyndlar towed Tomkiewicz toward shore, but halfway there, Tomkiewicz lost consciousness. Szyndlar then held Tomkiewicz and swam with him, having to submerge and push off the bottom the remaining distance when he became too tired to swim. Tomkiewicz was hospitalized but recovered fully.
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