Charles R. Dew helped to save Sue H. Braswell and Gary R. Moore from drowning, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, June 21, 1962. Sue, 8, a very poor swimmer, and Gary, 9, who could not swim, were caught in a strong undercurrent while playing in the surf in the Atlantic Ocean and swept into water beyond their depth. As both were carried farther from shore, they screamed for help. Although somewhat tired from swimming, Charles, 15, schoolboy, swam 75 feet and reached Sue 225 feet from shore in water six feet deep between waves more than two feet high. He supported Sue until her father reached them with a life ring. Handing Sue to her father, Charles swam 15 feet farther from shore to where Gary was sinking and rising in water seven feet deep. He took hold of Gary and, feeling too fatigued and winded to swim against the undercurrent, towed him ten feet to a piling of a fishing pier. Nearly exhausted, Charles wrapped his arms and legs around the piling and told Gary to get onto his back. Gary did so. Barnacles on the piling inflicted multiple lacerations on Charles as the waves broke over them, but he retained his hold. Meanwhile Sue’s father had been unable to make headway against the undercurrent and had towed her to another piling. By means of a rope and an inflated raft dropped to them by men on the pier, Sue and her father were drawn to wadable water. The father then directed the men to pull him and the raft to where Charles, with Gary on his back, still was clinging to the piling. The men did so. Gary was drawn to shore on the raft, which then was used to take Charles to the beach.
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