Priscilla Richardson

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"I'm like Minnie Pearl; I'm just so proud to be here," Wesley Bower of Blue Ridge said as he introduced himself. "I'm 80 years old; no need to deny it." Nor can he deny having saved a child's life long ago or creating a mystery that you readers can help him solve.

Bower's life story brought him through a time many people don't remember, the Depression and then World War II.

"I was 17 when I went in [to the service], was afraid the war'd be over before I got there. It wasn't like now; people lined up to volunteer. We had just come out of the Depression, and going into the Marines was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. As one of nine children, I'd worn hand-me-downs all my life. But when I went into the service I got three pairs of shoes, four pairs of britches, six shirts, jackets, caps, socks, underwear -- they furnished everything back then."

Bower survived the war in the Pacific and came back to Virginia Western Community College, thanks to the GI Bill. He married Lorraine Bryant -- "it will be 59 years in July" -- and looked for a civilian career, deciding on the Roanoke police force. His first few months as a rookie were spent in a patrol car with an older officer to teach him the ropes.

One morning in August 1949, when he was "a 4-month-old patrolman," Bower and his partner were driving down Bullitt Avenue past the now-filled-in pond at Elmwood Park. As they were driving, Bower saw a 3-year-old boy climb onto the pond's railing and then fall into the water. "My partner stopped the car. I went and got the boy and had him out in a short time. The lifesaving crew came. I don't remember if they took him to the hospital or not."

According to a WDBJ radio news report, Bower leaped out of the patrol car as it rolled to a stop. He'd spotted the boy tumbling into water over his head. Bower jumped over the fence into water 3 feet deep and brought the boy out just as he went under for the second time.

Bower had to go home and change his wet clothes. "My lieutenant gave me the devil for getting my gun wet. It was a .38-caliber handgun, a new model at the time, a nice gun."

He received an award from a citizen's group program called Cop of the Month. "I got the first one," Bower said. Back then he made $215 a month, so he appreciated the $25 savings bond the group awarded him. He got coverage from local newspapers and radio stations. A few days after the incident, WDBJ sent him a script from the newscast that covered his rescue.

It was that script that gave Bower the idea of contacting me. He had suffered a major fire at his home and thought the fire destroyed all his memorabilia. But some old books, stored in the chicken house, yielded the original script of the news account as read on WDBJ. It gave the name of the boy, James Earl Palmiter. Bower thought having his story featured in this column might bring him or some member of his family to light. My Internet search for the name brought me only a puzzled woman in Maryland whose husband is far too young to have been rescued in 1949.

So here's where you readers get the chance to solve the mystery -- whatever happened to this boy? If he's alive, he would be about 60 years old. Where does he live? Does he have any relatives left who can shed light on his fate? Or who can remember this rescue and what it meant to the family?

Here's a chance to show how good you are at detecting. Maybe you know somebody with information. Probably one of you is far better at Internet searches than I am and can get the answer right away. Then let me know and I'll give you your due glory in a future column. Thanks!