Edward John Kunzer, Jr., 16, schooI-boy, saved Clarence J. Ryan, 18, student, from drowning, Bristol, Illinois, July 5, 1935. Ryan rode in a canoe that was paddled by another youth and a young woman over the crest of a dam in the Fox River. The drop over the dam was two and one-half feet, and the canoe overturned less than five feet below the dam in turbulent water seven feet deep. The young woman swam 10 feet farther from the dam to wadable water, the youth held to the canoe, and Ryan threshed wildly and was submerged repeatedly eight feet from the dam and 25 feet from the bank. With the idea of deflecting the current from Ryan, Kunzer from the bank walked along the crest in water one foot deep to a point opposite Ryan, sat on the crest, and gripped the edge of the dam. His efforts proved futile, and Ryan was submerged repeatedly. Kunzer then rose to his feet, dived from the crest, emerged 10 feet from the dam, and swam five feet back to Ryan. Getting behind Ryan, Kunzer took hold of Ryan’s shoulder-strap and swam 20 feet farther from the dam to wadable water. Ryan was semi-conscious, and the young woman and Kunzer dragged him to the bank. He revived. Kunzer then noted that the youth who had been holding to the canoe had disappeared, and he waded and then swam five feet without difficulty to the canoe, took hold of it, swam eight feet to wadable water, and then waded to shore. The youth was not under the canoe, and later his body was recovered from under a rock.
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