A New Jersey man is being hailed as a hero after sacrificing his life to save three teenagers drowning in the ocean.
James Clarke was at Long Beach Island with his wife when a friend of his son, alongside two other boys, got sucked out by a riptide.
He immediately ran into the water and helped rescued all three boys, but moments later, collapsed on the shore. He was having a heart attack.
From the Asbury Park Press:
Peter said that he and the other boys were stuck about 100 yards off the beach, struggling to make progress against the tide while supporting a boy who had breathed in seawater. Jimmy made it out to them and they got the boy on a boogie board.
“He was like, ‘All right guys, it’s pretty rough out here,'” remembered [his son] Peter. “Then we started focusing on getting back.”
But Jimmy stumbled as they reached the breakers.
His wife, Jane, said he immediately knew what was going on, and locked eyes with her, catching one last look at his wife of 24-years.
Attempts to revive him on the beach were unsuccessful.
According to Jane, their last day together was wonderful.
“I literally looked over at him and thought in my head, ‘This is the best that we’ve ever had it,'” she remembered. “And that’s my last memory of him.”
Damn.
Sadly, this is not even the first time this happened this month. Early in June, a Marine passed away while saving two kids from flood waters.
[Via The Washington Post]