James B. Garner, 52, government agency director, saved an unidentified girl, about 10, from drowning, Morro Bay, California, July 16, 1967. The unidentified girl was on an inflated inner tube in Morro Bay and drifted with the tidal current to more than 1,000 feet from other swimmers. She then fell from the tube and was submerged briefly. Garner was on a ledge of a huge rock at the water’s edge and, noting that the girl was not attempting to retrieve the drifting tube, feared she was in danger of drowning. Removing his shirt and shoes, he slid down the steep face of the rock and into the water, After swimming 300 feet Garner reached the girl in water 25 feet deep. She was crying as she trod water feebly. Garner warned her to be calm and then told her to hold to his shoulders from behind him. The girl did so, and Garner began towing her toward a beach area adjoining the rock. He was impeded by the tidal current and the girl’s weight. By the time he had towed the girl 400 feet Garner was too tired to swim the remaining distance to the beach, and he feared they might be injured if he tried to land at the rock. A motorboat then arrived and took them
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