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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Updated at 1:02 p.m., July 15, 2003

Marine's valuables stolen as he saves boy's life

By Curtis Lum
and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Marine Cpl. Quentin Gwynn jumped into action when a teenage boy frantically called for help yesterday afternoon at Waimea Bay. The teen shouted that his friend was under water and unconscious just off the diving rock.

Gwynn had no time to think; he just reacted. And firefighters credit his quick action with saving the 16-year-old Pupukea boy's life.

The boy was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where a fire official said last night that he was being treated.

But as is often the case, no good deed seems to go unpunished.

After the commotion of rescuing the boy had subsided, Gwynn and his girlfriend, Heather Lenhart, realized that someone had stolen her backpack, which contained a camera, identification, money, credit cards and a key to their rented motorcycle.

"It's really hitting home right now. It's disheartening," Gwynn, 21, said late last night from the Sunset Beach fire station, where they were temporarily stranded. "They could have picked someone else to steal from. I just don't understand a thief."

Gwynn arrived in Hawai'i on Sunday aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, which had deployed Jan. 17 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The couple were relaxing at the bay and were about to take a second leap off the jumping rock when there was the panicked cry for help.

Gwynn said the boy's body was limp and cold when he was pulled out of the water. He wasn't breathing and had no pulse.

With help from others, the boy was hoisted onto a rocky ledge, where Gwynn began CPR. He was aided by Adam Smith, a 16-year-old tourist from Baltimore.

“Everyone was crazy, but Quentin was really down-to-earth about it,” Smith said. “He knew what to do and got the job done.”

Smith, who is visiting Hawai‘i with his family, is a summer lifeguard at the Beaver Dam Swim Club in Maryland. “I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “I just did what I was taught to do.”

After a few moments, the boy began coughing and Gwynn could detect a pulse and labored breathing. Firefighters arrived and put the boy on a floating backboard and he was taken to the beach to an ambulance. By the time the ambulance left the beach, the boy was conscious.

Gwynn said he had been trained to do CPR, but yesterday was the first time he had to use it.

"I surprised myself because I had never done it before," he said. "Everyone was freaking out and I had to try and calm things down."

Sunset Beach fire Capt. Stephen Johnson credited Gwynn with saving the boy's life.

"He kind of basically brought him back," Johnson said.

Last night his crew fed the couple and gave them some money to get by. They also gave them shirts and stored the rented motorcycle at the station.

One firefighter drove them to Pearl City, where Rika Ikeda, executive director and president of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai‘i, picked them up and brought them back to their Waikiki hotel. The society's number is 926-8274.

The public today continued that outpouring of help by calling the society office with numerous offers of help, she said.

“The phone is ringing off the hook,” Ikeda said. “It is going bonkers over there. People wanted to help and send things to him. Most of them want to send in some money. Someone wanted to take them to dinner.”

The society arranged for a new key to the motorcycle and a ride back to the Sunset Beach fire station so Gwynn and his girlfriend could retrieve the motorcycle and ride it back to town, she said.

Ikeda called Gwynn humble.

“He is extremely sweet and so is his girlfriend,” she said. “They are the sweetest couple. They have an angelic quality about them.”

Gwynn said he was disappointed that their valuables were stolen. But he said that pales in comparison to saving a life.

"My girlfriend really showed me that it was more than just him that we saved. Everyone — mothers and brothers — it would have been a bad deal," he said. "That's what I'll think about today. Credit cards and stuff can be replaced, but someone's son can't."