Edward C. Moore, 34, laborer, died assisting in an attempt to save John R. Casanova, 13, schoolboy, from drowning, Springfield, Massachusetts, April 18, 1953. A canoe in which John and two other boys were riding in Watershop Pond capsized 75 feet from the bank. John rose and floundered in very cold water 12 feet deep. The canoe was swept beyond his reach. The other occupants of the canoe reached the bank safely. Witnessing the accident, Moore and David C. Perkins alighted from a truck and ran 150 feet to the bank. Removing his jacket, Moore swam to John. Moore could make no progress toward the bank towing John, who struggled and attempted to seize him, and he trod water supporting the boy. Perkins, who had discarded his heavy rubber boots, felt the numbing effect of the water soon after he plunged from the bank but swam to them and took hold of John, who continued to flail his arms violently. Ambrogio Giannini was attracted and neared John, swimming 300 feet from the far bank. Observing that Moore and Perkins barely were able to support John, Giannini continued 50 feet farther and retrieved the canoe which was half-filled with water. As Giannini approached pushing the canoe, Moore, who had helped Perkins support John for two minutes and appeared extremely tired, released his hold on the boy and soon sank. He did not reappear. Perkins continued to hold to John. The latter locked his arms around the neck of Perkins and pulled him three feet below the surface. Perkins wrenched loose John’s arms and then tried to regain his hold and bring him to the surface, but John slipped from his grasp and sank deeper. Perkins struggled to the surface and trod water feebly. Leaving the canoe, Giannini made a surface dive and swam 20 feet groping for John in the murky water. He briefly sighted John four feet below the surface and felt Moore momentarily grasp his ankle from a greater depth but thereafter was unable to locate either of them and rose for air. Although fatigued, he made another surface dive and swam 15 feet circling the area where John and Moore had submerged but did not see them. Emerging and noting Perkins’s distress, Giannini swam to the canoe and towed it 12 feet to Perkins. The canoe shipped more water as Giannini aided Perkins in obtaining a hold on the gunwale. Supporting Perkins, Giannini swam propelling the canoe 50 feet toward the bank. A man in another canoe met them and removed them to the bank. Police and firemen later recovered the bodies of John and Moore. 3868-42827
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