Ingvald S. Johnson died from attempting to save Stephen S. Kelley and his brother, Samuel K. Kelley, Jr., from drowning, Delake, Oregon, July 16, 1961. After Stephen, 19, student, called for help from deep water in a runoff channel between submerged sand bars in the Pacific Ocean, Samuel, 30, window trimmer, attempted to tow him toward shore with the aid of a log but could not do so because of a strong undercurrent. As they were carried farther from shore, Stephen shouted for help. Johnson, 49, civil engineer, entered the surf in the channel and began swimming through breakers toward Stephen and Samuel. A hundred and forty feet from shore while still 80 feet from them he ceased swimming and trod water. A man, lying on an inflated mattress, paddled toward the brothers and passed within 20 feet of Johnson, who said nothing. Soon after the man reached Stephen and Samuel 240 feet from shore, Johnson called for help. Another man entered the surf and swam toward him but became fatigued and had to return to the beach. As the man on the mattress, with the brothers holding to him, tried without success to paddle shoreward, Johnson continued to tread water but soon sank and did not reappear. Samuel, Stephen, and the man drifted out of the undercurrent and by combined effort reached shore. Searchers failed to find Johnson, whose body later was washed ashore.
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