Henry F. Jakubowski, 26, laborer, saved Michael and Aniela Babiarz, 51 and 47, respectively, and their eight children, aged three to seventeen, from drowning, Depew, New York, June 21, 1937. The family were marooned in their home by the flood waters of Cayuga Creek. From the water-line 350 feet from the house Jakubowski with much effort paddled a canoe at an angle across a current of about five miles an hour to a window in the house. Considerable debris was drifting. Two children were placed in the canoe; and Jakubowski, intending to return to his starting-point, paddled the canoe 350 feet against the current, making headway slowly and with great exertion. The canoe then drifted out of control for a short time, and Jakubowski angled back across a slower current to the shore opposite his starting-point. Jakubowski then maneuvered the canoe across the lesser current to the house, got two more children, and followed his latter course to the shore. He then made four additional trips, following the same course, rescuing the remaining persons in the house. Jakubowski’s knees were raw from rubbing against the canoe, and he was very tired.
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