SOLDIER DROWNED
BOY'S HEROISM PRAISED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) TAUMARUNUI, December 19. Freedom John Valentine Coombes, aged 21. a lance-corporal on final leave from Papakura, was drowned in the Wanganui River yesterday afternoon at Tewhakarae. a few miles from Taumarunui. The deceased was swimming across the river with a boy, Richard Woolston, aged 9. on his back when he was seized with cramp and sank. A brother of the boy, Alan Woolston, aged 12. rescued Richard and then recovered Coombes’s body speedily after considerable elTort. He tried artificial resuscitation but unsuccessfully.
At the inquest today a verdict of accidental drowning was returned. The coroner commended the bravery of Alan Woolston, and said that he would recommend him for the Humane Society's decoration.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1939, Page 2
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121SOLDIER DROWNED Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1939, Page 2
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