Scout brothers earn medal for saving dad’s life

Michael Maloney with his sons, Mike (left) and Gabriel, who saved him from drowning.

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BRUNSWICK, GA. | Gabriel Maloney  doesn’t always do things in order.
Friday morning he completed the mile swim at Camp Tolochee he needed to earn his lifesaving merit badge.
Friday night at the camp’s closing ceremonial bonfire, he and his brother Mike received the Boy Scouts of America Honor Medal for heroism and bravery for saving their father’s life last summer.
On Aug. 20  they were on an all-male kayak trip of uncles, brothers and cousins on the Guadalupe River through the hill country near Kerrville, Texas.
They were near the end when temptation got the best of them.
“We came around a river bend to a rope swing,”  Michael Maloney said.
They tied up the kayaks and climbed the cliff to the swing. Mike was off first, then Gabe, as they call Gabriel.
“Have you ever seen a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old flying off a rope swing through the air?” their father asked. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
Exuberant boys flying against the sky then splashing into that deep, cool river water.
Who wouldn’t want to do that? So dad grabbed the rope and swung while Gabe was still in the water and Mike was climbing back up. But perhaps dad didn’t grasp the rope high enough considering how much the tree would give under his weight.

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