James G. Moses, 18, schoolboy, helped to save Robert L. Rathbun, Jr., 18, schoolboy, and eight other persons from drowning, Huron, Ohio, February 27, 1950. At night while Rathbun, Moses, and the others were skating on Lake Erie, a rift occurred along the shore, the ice moving a quarter-mile from shore with a wind of 30 m.p.h. The temperature was 29 degrees. Moses, who was unaware of the rift because of poor visibility, while skating toward shore fell into the open water. He climbed back onto the ice and removed his skates and most of his clothing. Telling the others to remain calm while he swam for aid and to await his call from shore, Moses plunged into the water and swam toward shore. He encountered two ice floes each 20 feet wide but crawled across each floe and without resting resumed swimming. Moses reached the shore and after calling to those on the ice ran a quarter-mile through snow to his home, where aid was summoned. Men in boats reached the others and took them to shore. Moses suffered from shock and exposure but recovered. 3676-41939
41939 – 3676
41939-3676Obituary
James Grant Moses, 78, of Huron, Ohio, died on Jan. 30, 2011, in the Cleveland Clinic following a lengthy illness. He was born in Elyria, Ohio, to H. James and Agnes (Hottel) Moses on July 7, 1932, and was a 1950 graduate of Vermilion High School in Vermilion, Ohio.
Moses received the Carnegie Medal for his 1950 act of rescuing nine fellow students on an ice floe, swimming in icy water to bring them to safety.
He played linebacker at Ohio State University under the legendary coach Woody Hayes and also held the Ohio Wesleyan College punting record of 86 yards from 1952 to 1971.
He was a pilot in the Navy, serving in the Korean Conflict. His tour of duty included being assigned to the U.S.S. Ticonderoga and the U.S.S. Coral Sea. He was in industrial sales from 1958 to 1972. In 1972, he purchased Hayes Marina in Huron and operated the business until 1983. In 1983, he sold Marine supplies for Bodette Industries in Toledo until his retirement in the mid-1990s.
(Edited from an obituary in The Morning Journal, Feb. 2, 2011.)