Long before the Heimlich manuever was invented, my mother came up with a similar manuever to rescue children. When I was a kid about half past three (as Johnny Mercer would put it) I was sitting in the swing on our front porch swinging as high as I could and sucking on a jawbreaker. For those who may not be familiar with it, a jawbreaker is a spherical piece of hard candy perhaps 3/4 of an inch or so in diameter. Inevitably I swallowed the wrong way and the jawbreaker blocked my airway. Mother who was maybe 5'5" tall was inside the house. She heard me choking, ran out, grabbed me by the heels, flipped me upside down and shook me so hard the jawbreaker popped out. It is amazing what mothers can do when there is a threat to their progeny.
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In my case it was our father who rescued me. I choked on a Lifesaver mint and he grabbed me by the heels and turned me upside down and shook me. Guess it didn't leave any lifelong scars for either of us! Jim also had a choking incident. He swallowed a penny one night when we were in San Diego - he was 4 yrs. old. The neighbors watched the other kids and I rushed him to the 32nd St. Naval Dispensary - Don's ship was in WESTPAC. They x-rayed him and decided it was lodged in a dangerous place so rushed us to the Naval hospital by ambulance. By the time we got there and had another x-ray it had passed beyond the dangerous spot. Seems like Don was always gone during crises like this one!
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