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JEFERSON COUNTY, N.Y. -- A Fort Drum soldier is being recognized for making a quick thinking rescue on the water earlier this month.

Back on April 13th, a Syracuse area man was fishing on his boat in Butterfield Lake in the Town of Alexandria. He was about 50 feet from shore when he suddenly tumbled overboard. Staff Sergeant Ryan Lowe of the 10th Mountain Division was at that boat launch and saw what happened. He swam out to the fisherman, who was clinging to the side of his boat.

“You could see that the shock had set in, he’d been in the water for 15 seconds or so and the water, to the best of what I knew, looking at all the fishing reports and stuff, was going to be about 40 degrees. He fell out, head to toe, just like that, fully submerged and once I got out there, I realized how cold he was, you know,” Lowe said.

Staff Sergeant Lowe pulled the man to shore and then recovered the boat.

The story might have ended there, but the fisherman was so thankful, he called up 10th Mountain Division Headquarters and told them what happened, letting everyone know he thinks of Lowe as a hero.