Joel Edmond Moody saved Sarah M. Wagner from drowning, St. Simons Island, Georgia, July 23, 2008. Wagner, 19, her younger sister, and a friend were on a sandbar in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 feet off the beach when the incoming tide stranded them there. Others on the beach called 911, and responders included firefighters who were neither trained nor fully equipped for water rescue. Fearing there was insufficient time for a Coast Guard unit to arrive, one of the firefighters entered the water with a rescue tube, as did Moody, 45, teacher, who had been walking on the beach. Having to swim across a strong lateral current and against the incoming tide, the men made their way to the sandbar, Moody encountering difficulty en route from a cramp. With Wagner positioned across the rescue tube, Moody held to it and swam ashore as the firefighter returned to the beach with the two other girls. Moody was nearly exhausted, and he recovered.
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