Ripley teen receives commendations for saving woman's life last year

James Greenwood doesn't consider himself a hero.

"I just did what had to be done," says the 15-year-old son of Colleen Maguire and J.P. Greenwood of Ripley.

July 26, 2016, James and his cousin, Brendan Ostler, were fishing in the Maitland River, near the Menesetung Railway Bridge in Goderich, when they heard two women fall off the bridge - a height of 180 feet - into six-and-a-half feet of water.

"It was about 1 p.m.," recalls James. "We were at the other end of the bridge and we heard this splash and then some cries for help. My cousin can't swim so I swam about 300 feet to where these two women were in the water. Both were on the verge of going unconscious, and they said their backs hurt and they couldn't feel their legs."

Later, he learned they were ages 17 and 21, of Clinton.

James said a man in his 30s, jumped into the water and rescued one of the women who was airlifted to hospital. Meanwhile, he held the other woman up out of the water, waiting for help. Due to her extensive injuries, she could not be brought to shore and had to be removed from the water by the Coast Guard and then taken to hospital.

"It was quite an ordeal," says James. "I had to hold her above the water and she weighed about 220 pounds. I was in the water for close to two hours - it got pretty tiring."

Fortunately, for the woman, James is a strong swimmer and, in fact, wants to become a part-time lifeguard. He plans to take his Bronze Cross later this year at the Davidson Centre pool in Kincardine.

James says he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing at the time. "I was just trying to keep her alive and I tried to stay calm. It didn't really hit me until later. My mom was panicking."

Maguire says the day of the incident, reporters were asking questions about what happened to the women. James declined to answer because he simply did not know; he still doesn't know.

After the ordeal was over, James went to his grandparents' place in Goderich, took a nap, and then played a ball game that evening.

"My friends were pretty amazed when I told them what happened," he says. "At the time, I didn't realize the magnitude of what I'd done until I saw that my mom was so upset. Those women kept screaming that they thought they were going to die. I just did what somebody had to do to help them."

For his actions, James received an OPP Commissioner's Citation for Lifesaving, and a Lifesaving Commendation from the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Toronto. Both praise him for doing what was necessary to save a life.

The awards were to be presented in January, 2017, in London, but the roads were closed that evening so James and his parents could not attend. So, he was notified that the awards would be sent to the local OPP detachment. Three weeks ago, a police cruiser showed up at the Greenwood home and an officer presented the plaques to James.

As he gets ready to begin Grade 10 at Sacred Heart High School in Walkerton next week, James says that shortly after the incident last summer, a Goderich firefighter connected with him on Facebook and commended him on rescuing the woman.

"He said he was proud of me and urged me to consider a career as a first responder," says James. "I might consider becoming a firefighter or a paramedic, or both.

"My parents were proud of me. My dad taught me to swim, and I've taken swimming lessons at the Goderich YMCA and the Davidson Centre."

James has four siblings, ages 14, 11, 5 and 3. His mother is the new principal at Huron Heights Public School in Kincardine, and his father works for the Fenbrook Correctional Institute in Gravenhurst.



James Greenwood, 15, of Ripley, holds up the OPP Commissioner's Citation for Lifesaving (left), and a Lifesaving Commendation from the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Toronto, which he just received, for helping rescue two women in Goderich, July 26, 2016