Raymond B. Rhew saved Johnny M. Lidstone from drowning, Port Bolivar, Texas, April 30, 1967. At night when their pickup truck plunged off a ferry slip and sank in deep water in Galveston Bay, Johnny, 12, his 9-year-old sister, and their father climbed out of the vehicle and surfaced. The father aided his daughter as strong currents caused by a departing ferryboat carried them to a support under the slip, but Johnny, a poor swimmer, was carried away from it. Rhew, 16, schoolboy, was on the slip and in dim light saw Johnny being submerged intermittently. Kicking off his shoes, Rhew climbed over a guardrail and dived into the water. He swam to Johnny, who then was 45 feet from the slip and was flailing wildly in water 10 feet deep. Rhew obtained a hold on him and began towing him toward the slip’s hoist house, which was nearer. Water washing over Johnny’s face caused him to choke. He twisted around and clasped his legs about Rhew’s thighs. Both were submerged. Underwater Johnny threw his arms around Rhew’s neck. Rhew surfaced with Johnny clinging to him. Swimming dog-paddle fashion because Johnny was holding him around the neck and thighs, Rhew moved the rest of the way to the hoist house. He obtained a grip on a supporting pillar and held Johnny against it. A man made his way to them on the substructure of the hoist house and took Johnny from Rhew, who then climbed out of the water.
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