Doyle F. Thompson, 30, assistant engineer, saved Lendle M. Hall, 16, from drowning, Oak View, California, April 20, 1958. While in bathing Miss Hall, a poor swimmer, was carried by the swift current of Ventura River into a turbulent area where the river narrowed to pass through a culvert beneath a roadway bridge. The culvert was 30 feet long and five and a half feet high. Miss Hall grasped the top of the culvert and clung to it, her body being drawn into the opening. Her mother and Thompson ran to the bridge and from it attempted together to draw Miss Hall from the culvert but could not do so. Thompson then jumped into the turbulent water, which was five feet deep. As he reached toward Miss Hall his feet were swept from under him by the strong current; and he was drawn beneath the surface of the water, which was within two inches of the top of the culvert. He was carried 30 feet through the culvert and, striking boulders and other submerged objects, was swept 80 feet downstream through water eight feet deep before rising to the surface. He was carried 20 feet farther before securing footings. Miss Hall, who had been carried through the culvert after Thompson, then rose to the surface near him. Thompson waded ten feet to Miss Hall, and he then aided her 60 feet toward the bank and onto a boulder projecting above the water. Another man waded to them and helped Thompson take Miss Hall the rest of the way to the bank. Miss Hall sustained no injuries. Thompson suffered cuts and bruises but recovered.
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