James E. Deschenes, 14, schoolboy, helped to save Gary R. Keiser, 14, schoolboy, from drowning, Milford, Connecticut, January 10, 1966. Sixty-five feet from a dam at the end of an ice-covered pond, Keiser broke through the ice and was submerged briefly in water nine feet deep. He tried to obtain a hold on the ice, but it broke off. His water-soaked clothing made it difficult for him to stay afloat, and he called for help. Deschenes ran 500 feet to the dam, removing his shoes and jacket. Taking the jacket with him he crawled to 60 feet from the dam. He extended the jacket, which Keiser grasped. As Deschenes moved backward and pulled Keiser, the ice broke. Deschenes also fell into the hole, and both were submerged. Deschenes surfaced, noted that Keiser had not reappeared, and submerged to look for him. He surfaced with Keiser and supported him at the edge of the ice. Meanwhile Christopher J. Broderick had crawled 30 feet over the ice from the dam. A high school principal and others then arrived with an aluminum extension ladder 36 feet long. The principal and a youth pushed the ladder to Broderick, who extended it to within three feet of the hole. While the principal and the youth moved to 15 feet from the dam and held a rope attached to one end of the ladder, Broderick moved to the end near the hole. The ice then broke beneath the end of the ladder, making a second hole. Broderick slid into the larger hole with Deschenes and Keiser, who again sank. Submerging, Broderick brought Keiser to the surface. Broderick and Deschenes broke the ice between the two holes. They took Keiser, who was completely helpless, to the end of the ladder and placed him on it. Broderick and Deschenes held to the ladder and made their way along it, breaking the ice ahead of them while moving Keiser over the rungs. By adding a belt and a scarf to the end of the rope, the youth and the principal were able to move back toward the dam as Broderick and Deschenes approached, moving Keiser along the ladder and breaking the ice beside it. The ladder then was pulled to the dam. Keiser, Deschenes, and Broderick were removed to a hospital and treated for exposure. They recovered
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