It’s the Water News, June 1967
“The man Weber saved a life.”
Speaking was Washington State Patrol Trooper Gary Wiles and “the man Weber” he spoke of was Marvin Weber, bottlehouse Foreman and 18 year employee of the Olympia Brewing Company.
The story of Marv’s courageous effort began on the evening of March 22 [1967]. Harold Moon was driving a truck-trailer north on Highway 99, his 20 ton cargo consisted of steel sheets and girders destined for a company in Seattle. As he neared the Lathrop Road, a few miles south of Tumwater, the truck for some yet unexplained reason, took a wild course off the evening shrouded freeway, tore across the shoulder of the road and into a group of large trees and heavy underbrush.
Upon impact the cargo knifed forward, the steel sheets slicing through the truck cab like a proverbial hot knife through butter. Some of the sheets cut a swath through the trees for 25 yards ahead of the truck’s final stopping place.
Mr. Moon was thrown from the cab and at some point during the violent moment, one of the steel sheets severed his left leg. In addition, he also suffered from internal injuries and a broken pelvis. Mr. Moon later related that he lay in the underbrush for hours, calling out into the darkness for help.
Marv, who was working the graveyard shift, was on his way to work from his home in Rochester. As he coursed along the freeway, he noticed the taillights of the flatbed truck-trailer. He stopped to take a closer look and as he walked back to investigate, a cry of help broke from the pile of brush and broken tree limbs that lay heaped a short distance from the shoulder of the road.
Tearing away the debris, he found the driver, his face caked with blood. Seeing the man’s amputated leg, Marv, who took first aid training at the brewery, removed the belt from his waist and tied it around the stump of what remained of Mr. Moon’s left leg, thereby preventing further loss of blood. He then pulled the injured man to the highway.
Holding the belt taut with one hand, Marv vainly signaled passing motorists with the other. It was 20 minutes before one stopped. He was a young boy and he went immediately to inform the State Patrol. A few minutes later, Trooper Wiles arrived.
“I’ve never seen a man live with his leg cut off like that,” Wiles later said. “The man Weber saved a life. And he stayed with me, holding the belt, while I tended to Moon’s other wounds.”
Taken to the Olympia hospital, Mr. Moon was listed in critical condition, but since that time his condition has steadily improved.
Thanks to the action, the effectiveness and the willingness to care displayed by Marvin Weber a human life was saved.
