Carmine Di Domizio, Jr.

Carmine Di Domizio, Jr., attempted to save Costantino Alfonso and Frank C. Silvestre from drowning, Wappingers Falls, New York, January 21, 1933. Costantino, 9, and Frank, 8, broke through thin ice on Wappingers Falls Lake 45 feet from the bank. They were momentarily submerged and then clung to the ice. Carmine, 13, schoolboy, skated from the bank across a small cove and broke through within 18 feet of them. After breaking ice for 15 inches toward the two boys, he realized he could not reach them that way. He turned and broke ice for five feet to open water, swam two or three strokes, and got hold of a large cake of ice. He was numb and was unable to climb out of the water. Just after Carmine had broken through the ice, Agnes M. Van Tassell, who had followed him, broke through in a separate hole five or six feet in the rear of Carmine. After trying to touch bottom, she broke ice and swam 10 feet to open water four feet deep. A tree branch was tossed to her, and she waded five feet toward Carmine and extended the branch to him. Carmine grasped the branch, and Miss Van Tassell pulled him close to the bank and carried him out of the water. Costantino and Frank sank and were drowned.