Lagoon rescuer's life gets back to normal

For a few months after Jim Manship dove into a lagoon to rescue two women whose car had crashed into the murky water, the plaudits rolled in.

So did the troubling flashbacks.

Every time he looked out the back of his home at Sun City Hilton Head, Manship remembered the chaotic scene he encountered in July 2009.

"I almost wish I had left the blinds closed for a couple weeks," he said while recalling his experience this week.

Both the unwanted attention and the pesky memories from that day have subsided, he said

"It was tough to start with, but after a while, it's just back to normal," Manship said.

The saga began when Manship, then 66, heard the crash while checking the weather forecast on television before a scheduled tennis match.

He leapt from the chair in his great room, dashed to his patio and saw two women trapped in the car. One was yelling for help from the sinking vehicle's open window.

Manship, a retired Marine and telephone technician and engineer, grabbed three noodle-like foam swim devices -- he was a lifeguard in high school and knew he would need them to keep the woman afloat.

He stripped off his shoes and shirt and jumped into the shoulder-deep water. He had seen the lagoon's resident alligator in the water that morning.

A fire official later said Manship might have saved the women's lives by hoisting them from the car and ushering them to the bank before authorities arrived.

For his efforts, Manship has been commended by a group of volunteers in Sun City, Beaufort County Council and the S.C. General Assembly.

House Resolution 4699 was adopted in March and sponsored by a cadre of local lawmakers and gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. It honored Manship for "uncommon valor in the heroic rescue of two women trapped in a sinking car."

He also was interviewed on a local cable show, featured in magazine and newspaper articles and occasionally recognized at the gym and tennis courts.

He never wanted that kind of recognition and sometimes wished the phone calls would stop, he said.

Even so, he says he would gladly risk his own safety again to help others in danger.

He keeps the noodles in his garage when he's not using them to play with his grandchildren.

He is happy things have quieted down, he said, and he remains thankful the alligator wasn't hungry.

"Now, I don't even think about it," he said.