Richard W. Meserve saved a girl from drowning, Scarborough, Maine, July 3, 2008. While swimming in the Atlantic Ocean with her short surfboard, a 9-year-old girl was carried farther from the beach and a few hundred feet along it, into a vicinity of large rocks over which waves broke. Meserve, 42, teacher, was at the beach when he became aware of the situation. He entered the water with a broken section of a short surfboard and swam out through the rough water to the girl. Re-establishing her on her board, Meserve instructed her to kick strongly, and then he placed his hand on her back as he swam alongside her, using his section of board as a flotation device. They proceeded along the shore to get past the rocks and then headed directly in, to the point in wadable water from which others assisted them to the beach. The girl was not injured. Meserve was nearly exhausted, but he recovered.
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