Charles B. Vines, 22, disabled war veteran, saved Barbara S. Wood, 15, and Anne L. Ball, 18, from drowning, Merrill, Mississippi, June 27, 1954. While wading on a submerged sandbar in Leaf River, Miss Wood and Mrs. Ball accidentally stepped into deep water and were submerged briefly. They rose 10 feet from the sandbar, and Mrs. Ball grasped a man swimming nearby and pulled him below the surface. Stricken with a severe leg cramp, the man broke free of Mrs. Ball, emerged, and swam to the sandbar. Vines, who was blind and who was the only other person in the vicinity, heard the screams of the young women and swam six feet to Miss Wood, who grasped his shoulder. Groping, he got hold of her arm. She directed Vines as he towed her seven feet to the position of Mrs. Ball, who was struggling wildly to stay afloat and seized Vines around the neck. Pulling Mrs. Ball from him, Vines swung her behind his back and instructed her to cling to Miss Wood for support. With great effort Vines progressed 15 feet cross current towing the young women, guided by the calls of the man on the sandbar. Releasing her hold on Vines, Miss Wood placed Mrs. Ball’s hands on Vines’s shoulder and tried to swim to the sandbar but could make no headway. Vines swam towing Mrs. Ball an additional 15 feet across the current to wadable water on the sandbar. Alternately submerging and reappearing, Miss Wood was carried rapidly downstream toward where Leaf River joined a wide creek to form the Pascagoula River. Although badly winded from his exertions, Vines plunged back into deep water and swam toward Miss Wood. He repeatedly had to correct his course, veering from side to side in the water in response to the calls of the man on the sandbar. Progressing 300 feet with extreme effort, Vines overtook Miss Wood in the Pascagoula River 50 feet from a steep bank. She seized him around the neck, submerging him briefly. He groped and again got hold of her arm calming Miss Wood, Vines persuaded her to release her hold on his neck. Heading in the direction of the man’s calls, Vines towed Miss Wood 250 feet to the opposite bank of the river just downstream from the sandbar. The man dragged Miss Wood to the bank, where she became unconscious. Breathing in great distress, Vines dropped to his knees in wadable water and rested for 10 minutes. He reached the bank extremely nauseated from water he had swallowed. Miss Wood was revived at a hospital, where she and Mrs. Ball were treated. They were confined to bed at home for a week before they recovered. Vines experienced muscular soreness in his legs for two days. 43200-3973
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