A ten-year-old boy’s plunge through the ice of the Saugus River in Lynn, Massachusetts, set off a desperate rescue in February 1920, with one man risking his own life while others could only watch from the shore.
George White saw young George Girourillis disappear through a hole in the ice roughly 200 yards from safety. Without waiting for help, White ran out across the frozen river toward the opening. The ice was already weakening in the warmer conditions, bending beneath his weight with each step and threatening to give way beneath him as well.
When White reached the hole, the boy was nowhere to be seen. He dove beneath the icy water twice before finally locating the child and bringing him back to the surface.
Getting Girourillis out of the water was only part of the problem. A drifting cake of ice passed nearby, and White managed to place the unconscious boy on top of it. He then used the floating piece of ice as an improvised raft, pushing it back toward the more solid portion of the river.
According to the newspaper account, approximately 20 people had witnessed the boy fall through the ice, but the dangerous conditions prevented them from attempting a rescue themselves.
Saugus River
Once White reached shore, he immediately began giving first aid to Girourillis and succeeded in reviving him while a police ambulance was summoned.
The rescue was considered so extraordinary that Lynn Police Captain Broad announced his intention to report White’s actions to the Carnegie Hero Society, which recognized civilians who risked their lives to save others.
Hero In Daring Rescue
LYNN, Massachusetts. — Running out 200 yards over the ice in the Saugus River here, George White reached a water hole in which he had seen a boy disappear. He dove twice beneath the surface and located and rescued ten-year old George Girourillis.
As White rose to the surface of the open water a cake of ice came drifting by. On this he placed the unconscious boy and propelled his strange craft to the edge of the former ice.
Twenty people who saw the little boy break through and disappear beneath the ice dared no aid in the rescue.
Every step White took the fast melting ice bent beneath his weight.
Arriving on shore, White turned his attention to the boy, and by giving him first aid, revived him until a police ambulance could be summoned.
Police Captain Broad of the Lynn Police stated he would communicate the story of the daring rescue to the Carnegie Hero Society.
Source: Polk County News. Benton, Tenn. February 26, 1920.
