John J. O’Sullivan, 54, subway guard, died after saving Robert J. Cochrane, 35, employee counselor, from drowning, Gloucester, Massachusetts, May 25, 1969. When he entered the Atlantic Ocean wearing scuba gear and was dashed against the rocky shore by a breaker, Cochrane lost his lead weights and part of his breathing apparatus. He floated helplessly with his face in the water, his rubber suit preventing him from reaching the straps to detach the air tank on his back. O’Sullivan, who had a serious cardiac condition, went to the edge of a large slab-like rock, the top of which was a foot above the water when the breakers were in. At the arrival of the next wave, O’Sullivan entered the water and was dropped to the bottom as the wave receded. Treading water when the breakers were in, he moved to where a line attached to Cochrane was floating at the surface. He seized the line, pulled Cochrane to him, and towed him six feet to the base of the slab-like rock. As the next breaker lifted him, O’Sullivan released Cochrane and grasped the top of the rock. He pulled himself onto the rock, where he then lay prone. When the next wave raised Cochrane, O’Sullivan grasped him and drew him onto the rock. O’Sullivan rose, took two steps, and suffered a fatal heart attack,
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