At only 9 years old, Julian Stanley Wise watched two men drown in the Roanoke River, a scene he never forgot.
In 1909, a 9-year-old boy stood along the banks of the Roanoke River and watched a tragedy unfold. Two men were struggling in the water, as the canoe they were in had capsized. Adult onlookers heard the men screaming and stood helplessly as the men gasped for breath. As the river swirled around its victims, the men disappeared beneath the water and drowned. No one along the river knew how to swim or to provide aid. The scene of that event imbedded itself deep into the memory of the young boy such that 20 years later, Julian Stanley Wise decided to launch our nation’s first all-volunteer rescue squad.
Wise worked at the Norfolk & Western Railway and recruited nine co-workers to form in May 1928 the Roanoke Life Saving and First Aid Crew. The crew’s initial mission was water safety and rescue. Using scant resources and equipment, such as a Pulmotor, Lungmotor, a boat and some grappling hooks, the crew responded to three calls during its first year.
Meeting one night a month at the Motive Power Building of the N&W, the crew studied and practiced first aid, using manuals from the American Red Cross and homemade equipment. In time, the crew earned instructor certificates and provided training to Roanoke police officers, firemen and ambulance drivers (the drivers and ambulances being from funeral homes in those days).
The crew staged a mock rescue using a 250-pound dummy for Roanoke officials that resulted in the city contributing $300 to the crew for supplies and communication support. Oakey’s Funeral Service donated an old Cadillac ambulance which the crew retrofitted for rescue operations. Prior to the donation of the ambulance, the men had used Wise’s roadster…