Robert K. Daniels, 24, electrical engineer, helped to save John W. Dean, 28, automotive garage operator, from drowning, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, October 28, 1956. When his motorboat sprang a leak and filled with water on Mississippi Sound, Dean leaped from the boat into rough water 10 feet deep two miles from the mainland. Daniels was with Dean’s brother and another man, both poor swimmers, in another motorboat which stalled when they attempted to go to Dean’s aid. The stalled boat rapidly drifted away from Dean, who began swimming after it but became exhausted and called for help. Daniels entered the water fully clothed and swam 70 feet against wind of 20 m.p.h. and waves five feet high, taking with him a partially-inflated rubber mattress. He reached Dean, who grasped the mattress with both arms, briefly submerging it, and then held to it as he trod water. Dean was too fatigued to swim after the stalled boat, which finally drifted out of sight. Fearing that the mattress would not support them much longer, the two men pushed it ahead of them as, being submerged briefly several times, they swam 250 feet to Dean’s boat, the bow of which still was projecting above the water. Dean clung to the bow, and Daniels held to the mattress while treading water. Meanwhile the men in the drifting craft sighted a diesel-powered shrimp boat, which at their direction proceeded to Dean and Daniels and took them aboard. The boat took the men to the mainland. Both Dean and Daniels, who had been in the water almost an hour, were exhausted and extremely nervous. They recovered. 43983-4123
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