After they were on the sand, Shirley, a Roman Catholic, scooped up some sea water and let it run over the head of her friend (who had never been baptized and belonged to no specific faith). When she was near enough, a fisherman threw her a line. Shirley reached Albert and seized his hand, "but when I pulled, I could see that his arm was just hanging by a thread." She slipped her arm around him and began to swim for the beach. It was the greatest exhibition of courage I have ever seen." "I could see the boy in the foaming red water, shouting and signaling someone to 'go back, go back.' Then I saw the girl, swimming toward him, completely ignoring his warning. Looking down on the ocean from the Presidio, San Francisco's history-encrusted Army post, Master Sergeant Leo P. He said, 'It's a shark! Get out of here!'" "I turned around," Shirley said later, "and saw this big grey thing flap up into the air. Shirley O'Neill and Albert Kogler, 18-year-old freshmen at San Francisco State College, went for a swim off Baker's Beach, near the Golden Gate Bridge. One arm intact and the other almost chewed off near the shoulder but the worst part was his chest, the shark had bitten poor Albert nearly in half, his whole bottom torso was missing and bite marks in the form of clean and jagged lacerations were visible on his face, neck and shoulders.all bleeding profuselyĪlbert died on the beach and President Kennedy awarded Shirley the young American peoples medal of valour for acts of extreme braveryĪt the autopsy medical examiners confirmed the attacker as Carcharodon carcharias.a Great White Shark measuring at least 4.5 metres longīuzz It was a sunny afternoon in San Francisco. They lay Albert down on the sand and surveyed his injuries, one leg gone to the thigh, the other a mess of strips of flesh and muscle hanging like old rags and blood pouring onto the sand. There were many people on the beach that day who witnessed the attack, but none were brave enough to enter the fray until Shirley had got to knee deep water With a superhuman effort and unbelievable bravery she struggled for 20 minutes to drag him the 30 metres to the shore as the shark attacked and ripped at Alberts body "Finally the shark let go and I started towards shore with the bloody mess that was my boyfriend" "Through the froth of blood a hand appeared and I grabbed and started to try and pull him away but as his arm was almost detached from his body I used it to get closer to the battling shark and Albert to put my arm around Alberts body and literally had a tug of war with the shark which was showing no interest in me but just continuing to bite down and rip at his chest" There was blood everywhere and poor Albert was howling even louder, it was an awful sound but what was worse was I could literally hear the feeding sounds of the shark eating him alive." He was screaming like he was in great pain and for a moment I saw the great beasts jaw biting down on his chest, it opened up wide and I thought it was going to let him got but suddenly the jaw clamping down even harder with a loud snap, it had just been getting a better grip. "I did a few strokes towards shore and then thought "I cant leave him here" so I turned back and swam towards the commotion in the water. It was then he yelled out "Its a shark! Get out of here!" about and causing a huge commotion and I knew he was fighting with this fish which must have been very big. "There was a real seething in the water and the tail of the big fish was thrashing. I turned towards him and I saw this great big fish hitting the surface of the water. about to start swimming when I heard Albert scream. "We stood neck deep talking and cuddling and after a few minutes decided to return to shore. about 30 metres from the shore when Albert said to me "lets stop here, it'll be over our heads soon" "We had been in the water for 15 minutes and we had gone out. Shirley O'Neils account taken by the LAPD on the beach 30 minutes after the incident about 5.30 on the afternoon of August 24 when 18 year old Albert Kogler and his new Girlfriend Shirely O'Neill decided to take another quick swim before returning home for the day
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