Making a splash to save a soul
- deansimpson7
- Jun 3
- 1 min read
BY BARRY GITTINS
Salvationists often talk about helping to ‘save’ people, but they are rarely called on to do so practically.
One exception was the exciting adventures of Ensign Littler and Lieutenant Shao P’eng Ch’ou in China almost 100 years ago.
The life-saving exploits of Ensign Littler and Lieut Shao were captured in a May 1929 edition of The Salvation Army’s English-language newspaper in China, The Crusader.
The European comrade, Ensign Littler, was visiting the metropolis of Chochow when “he was called upon to render first aid to the injured”.
Before the ensign arrived at the scene, Lieut Shao had leapt into a well to save a drowning boy who had fallen to his imminent demise.
After going ‘kerplunk’ and ably lifting the unconscious child from beneath the waters, the lieutenant himself was clocked with “a dislodged brick” that had “slipped over the side of the well and descended on [his] head, all but rendering him senseless ... he managed, however, to maintain his hold on the child and a rope, and was finally pulled to the surface”.
Thankfully, Ensign Littler knew his stuff; he “was able to administer artificial respiration to the child and also attended [to] the lieutenant, who had fainted ... The little boy proved to be the only child of an influential man of that city.”
Thank God for a literal lifesaver; all’s well that ends well.
