Mary A. Race saved Michael J. Melville from drowning, Salt Point, New York, August 11, 1962. Michael, 8, who could not swim, fell into a creek where the water impounded by a dam was 17 feet deep. He was submerged briefly, flailed wildly, and then sank with only his hands above the surface 12 feet from the steep shale bank. Mrs. Race, 43, homemaker, was attracted from her home on the opposite bank and saw Michael’s hands at the surface 25 feet from the dam’s spillway. Descending the bank, Mrs. Race ran 90 feet on the dam and then waded 15 feet through water 20 inches deep atop the spillway. She had made her way along low ledges of the bank to 10 feet from the spillway when Michael’s hands started to disappear. Without delaying to remove any of her attire, Mrs. Race lunged into the water and swam to Michael, who then was 15 feet from the bank. She submerged and thrust upward on Michael, who was unconscious, raising his head to the surface and moving him two feet toward the bank. Mrs. Race made additional thrusts from under water, surfacing for air each time, and moved Michael to the bank. She then placed one foot on a small ledge beneath the surface. Holding to a rock projection, she draped Michael over her knee and revived him. Michael, followed by Mrs. Race, then moved from ledge to ledge to the top of the bank.
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