Earl Gray

Earl Gray, 21, dispatcher, saved Stanley W. Bowes from suffocation, Maryfield, Saskatchewan, January 3, 1966. Bowes was alerted that a man had collapsed in three feet of water at the bottom of the pit, 23 feet deep, from which water was being removed by a gasoline-driven pump on a platform 12 feet below the top. Bowes and another man used a rope attached to the collapsed man to hoist him from the bottom of the pit, but he became caught beneath the platform. Bowes descended a ladder to the platform, turned off the pump, and sat on the edge of the platform, where he pulled the man into his lap before he, too, lost consciousness. Gray and others became alerted to the situation and ran to the pit. They pulled the first man to the surface. Gray then removed the rope from him and tied it to his own belt. Holding his breath, he descended the ladder to the platform. He untied the rope from his belt and secured it around the chest of Bowes. Gray then was forced to breathe and quickly climbed out of the pit. Bowes was removed by means of the rope. He was hospitalized and recovered.