Tommy and I Lifeguarded together on LBI for many years. We lived in the Old Coast Guard Station on Maryland Ave. and we patrolled the beaches from Maryland Ave to Dune Lane. We rescued many from the perils of the sea. We were the best of friends.I will tell you a story which is long forgotten. During the lifeguard Races one year where a crowd of thousands had gathered on the beach, a swimmer was spotted 300 yards offshore and a shark fin was seen rising behind him. It was a hoax but nobody knew it. Out of several hundred lifeguards that stood paralyzed on the shore while spectators looking on in horror, Tommy and I hit the water together racing to what we thought was a victim. The first shark attack in US history occurred on July 2, 1916 off Engleside Ave.; the risk was not fictional.

It turned out to be a hoax and Tommy and I waited with the swimmer offshore until the Marine Police arrested him and took him away by boat. Tommy and I made our way back to shore, exhausted, and perhaps a little embarrassed. When we hit the sand the beach was silent. Thousands on the beach and they were silent. Suddenly the crowd broke into long applause.

Yes it was a hoax but we didn’t know it and Tommy, my right arm never hesitated. You see, I was an avid student of shark attacks and I knew that the rescuer was rarely attacked. In the 1916 attack, Lifeguard and Olympic swimmer Alexander Ott pulled the dying victim from the water. Tommy didn’t know that. He boldly charged the water with utter fearlessness putting another’s life above his own. There were hundreds of Lifeguards on the beach standing like frozen manikins as Tommy torpedoed his way through the breakers. This is the kind of man he was.

I am at a loss when I write this because when the Book of Tommy’s life closed, it left behind a sea; each drop of tear that fell from all of you, created a stream, then a mighty river of love until it emptied into the vastness of the sea.

I stand on the shore of that sea this evening; looking out into the darkness. The lapping recoil of the breakers speaks of eternity. It is lonely tonight. I bid farewell to Tommy’s life and will remember him always.

Bruton,

Florida