Real life superheroes: This week, Cam Harvin

Petraeus makes history with visit

By GRAHAM OSTEEN
Editor-At-Large
graham@theitem.com

On July 30, 1968, The Sumter Daily Item published the following story on the front page:

Sumter Youth Saves Boy From Drowning
MURRELLS INLET – Prompt action by Cameron Harvin, 14-year-old son of Dr. Harry T. Harvin of Sumter, was credited with saving a 12-year-old boy from drowning in Murrells Inlet early Monday afternoon.

The boy, Thomas China of Sumter, was swimming in the Inlet with Lee Harvin, 8, and Graham Osteen, 7, when he got in trouble after diving off the dock.

Mrs. Harvin was the first to notice that the boy was having difficulty in remaining afloat.

Cam Harvin was on shore at the time, but dived in the Inlet and was the first to reach young China.

The boy was apparently already unconscious at that time with only the top of his head showing.

Cam was able to hold him up until another swimmer arrived and, with the help of a life preserver thrown from a passing boat, got him to shallow water and additional help.

A doctor happened to be nearby and applied artificial respiration to the boy and succeeded in reviving him after a few minutes.

The Garden City-Murrells Inlet Rescue squad arrived and the boy was given oxygen and then carried to the Myrtle Beach Hospital. He was given further treatment in the emergency room and released in good condition after about an hour.

Cam Harvin will be in the ninth grade of the Sumter schools this fall. He is considered an excellent swimmer and was able to put his skill to excellent use in saving the life of the China boy.

Cam and I started talking about this incident earlier this summer, and Item historian and archivist Sammy Way found the actual story on our microfilm. I haven't been able to locate Tommy China yet, so if you know him or know where he is, please let me know.

Cam and wife Mary Anne have four children: Cameron, 24, Charlotte, 20, Andrew, 19, and Peter, 13.

The Harvins and Osteens go way back. My grandparents, Toody and Hubert, took me to the Inlet with them all the time when I was a child, and Harry and Toby Harvin were among their closest friends. Cam's oldest brother, the legendary “Doc,” finished playing football at Georgia Tech in 1967, so I imagine he was in medical school when this happened; older brother (the late) Chris Harvin was off seeking adventure somewhere else on the coast away from us kids, I'm sure; Cam was 14, stuck at home sick, and Lee was 8, as the story noted.

We were in the southern part of the Inlet close to the mouth on the south end of Garden City. The tidal current can be quite dangerous out there, and we were diving off the end of the dock and swimming back to shore. I remember how quickly Tommy got into trouble, and how terrifying it was for Lee and me as he struggled, began drowning and tried to grab us. We were both much smaller and at great risk of being drowned ourselves.

Cam was up on the porch, but he realized what was happening and made a mad dash into the water to save Tommy. When Cam got him on the beach, Tommy was unconscious. They started working on him but he was completely unresponsive for what seemed an eternity. He then suddenly began coughing up saltwater and breathing again, just like in the movies.

I'm pretty sure it was my grandfather who wrote the story about the incident. He and Harry were quite a pair. Harry was the First Presbyterian Church elder for the christening of both of my children and was like a kind, mischievous uncle to me. Hubert and Harry played golf and cards regularly, and the two couples traveled everywhere together. They usually took Lee and me along to entertain each other while they enjoyed their wide circle of hugely entertaining Sumter friends. The Greatest Generation.

We learned a lot of valuable life lessons from those two rascally old guys when their wives weren't keeping a close eye on them, including how to fetch them a cold ale from the ice box, pop the pull tab top and earn a mouthful of cold foamy brew for the effort. They also taught us how to perform the “magical finger” trick. Ask Lee about it sometime. He's in the Columbia phone book.



Last week's column contained some anecdotes that were true and some that weren't.

Bobby Richardson really did catch a quail in the air with his bare hands, but I don't know if Harry Truman ate Sumter squab before dropping the bombs on Japan.

John Dillinger never came to Sumter as far as I can tell. That storyline derived from an April Fools' Day column I wrote on April 1, 2009. It follows then that Johnny Depp didn't really eat squab at the Hamptons while doing scene locations for his recent movie, no matter what Danielle Thompson tells you. She promised me a year's worth of free lunches at the Hamptons if I kept the tale alive, but my journalistic integrity has prevailed.

Graham Osteen is co-president of Osteen Publishing Co. and Editor-At-Large of The Item. Contact him at The Item, 20 North Magnolia St., Sumter, S.C., 29150; graham@theitem.com, or call (803) 774-1352.