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CG honors airman for dive to save mom, son

OKLAHOMA CITY — Joshua Johnson didn’t have much time to think that day. He saw a car that had slid down an embankment off Riverside Drive in Tulsa sinking into the Arkansas River and knew lives were at stake.

“I just immediately jumped out there and swam in,” Johnson, now 22, said of the events of Dec. 23, 2004. “I didn’t really realize how cold the water was at the time. I guess my adrenaline was flowing, and it didn’t really hit me until afterwards.”

The Coast Guard formally recognized Johnson’s effort to save Detura Bills and her 2-year-old son Brandon from drowning with a Gold Lifesaving Medal during a ceremony at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard issues the awards to individuals who conduct high-risk water rescues, but military personnel, like Johnson, have to be off duty to be considered for the award.

Johnson, of Kellyville, Okla., was stationed in Mississippi at the time.

“It was almost like diving into a Slushie, I guess,” said Johnson of the frigid waters he navigated during his rescue efforts. “My first couple of dives, the back end of the car was sticking out of the water.”

Johnson said Bills had already cracked open the door when he pulled her from the driver’s seat, but “I didn’t know there was a kid in the back so that really threw a kink in it.”

The car then sank to the bottom of the river with the child. After four more dives, Johnson “figured out” the restraints on the child safety seat and brought the young boy to shore.

“He wasn’t coughing or choking up,” Johnson said. “He just started breathing ... He wasn’t even crying.”

Johnson, now stationed with the 3rd Combat Communications Group at Tinker, got help from two other men — Tulsans Rob Ewens and Jerome Wade.

Ewens was returning from a hospital after hand surgery when he bailed out of his car and rushed to help.

Wade’s car barely missed colliding with Bills’ vehicle but also hurried to the river to do what he could to help the woman and her child.

Ewens and Wade pulled the woman from the submerged vehicle, while Johnson rescued Brandon and handed him off to others on the shore.

All three were given Heroic Oklahoman Awards the next month.

“I’m definitely glad I did it,” Johnson said after receiving his latest accolade. “I mean, it saved the life of a child, and a mother, too. But the child, that’s the big one.”