Wilma Lorene Hewitt, 18, schoolgirl, saved D. Joyce Harper, 15, and attempted to save Clareen Castle, 14, from drowning, Trading Post, Kansas, August 16, 1942. While swimming in the Marais des Cygnes River, Clareen got into difficulty in water five feet deep 50 feet from the bank. Joyce, who was taller, waded to her, took hold of her, and was grasped by Clareen. Joyce lost her footing, and the girls drifted 50 feet in a current of two m.p.h. into water eight feet deep. Miss Hewitt waded from an island, swam with the current 50 feet to the girls, took hold of their hair, and raised their faces above the surface. Holding both girls by their hair with one hand, she then swam and drifted towing them at an angle toward the bank. Clareen slipped from Miss Hewitt’s grasp and was drowned. After swimming and drifting 75 feet holding Joyce, Miss Hewitt, who was tired, was submerged while trying to find bottom. Swimming to the surface, she swam close to the bank and aided Joyce onto it. Thinking she saw Clareen’s hair at the surface, Miss Hewitt then swam 40 feet from the bank; but she was mistaken and swam back to the bank. 39765-3312
39765 – 3312
39765-3312