Your neighbor is a true hero- without him two would have drowned.
And some people don't think, especially when alcohol is involved. very sad

Gosh this bring back memories...

When I was six months pregnant with my now 18-year old son, my husband and I were enjoying a day at a lake in Calif. We had hiked in about 1/2 mile to a secluded spot, and so were the only ones there. Late in the afternoon, we were both sitting on the blanket and I thought I heard, "Help!" Looked around but couldn't see anything. A few minutes later, we both heard it, and then saw a boat drifting in toward shore. My husband waded out to keep the boat from hitting a rocky point, and I was standing on shore trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Suddenly I saw a head bob up from under the water, squeak out "Help!" and disappear again. My husband was in the boat, and I was closest, so I grabbed an air mattress and started out toward the guy. My arms and legs were burning by the time I got close to him. He was down so long between "Helps" that I was screaming at him that I was almost there, in hopes of helping him hang on a few more sec's. I cannot really describe the panic I was feeling. As I got to within about ten feet, his head was above water, we made eye contact, and then I was overcome by the smell of alcohol. For a fleeting second I thought, "You Son of a...." But then I dismissed that thought and finally made it to him. He had gone under again, but as soon as he came up, I grabbed his arms and held him on the air mattress (we were facing each other). Oh my God, he just reeked and was barely conscious. It took awhile but my husband and I got him to shore, where he passed out. He was breathing, so we just watched him. After an hour or two, he started to wake up a bit. The story was he had been drinking alone in his boat, had tossed a tube off the side of the boat to float around a bit, forgotten to anchor the boat, and then chased the boat half way around the lake. I wasn't feeling honestly all that sorry for him given the stupidity of the situation. But then after he slept a bit, and gained a bit more energy, he was just blubbering and crying about how stupid he'd been and how he had kids and how upset they would be. And so then I felt, okay, that was worth it, if just for the kids.

Two things have stayed with me from that ordeal. #1, Always, always, always have an inflatable or other flotation device handy when swimming. Without the air mattress, my husband and I could not have saved this man. He was a big, big guy, and we were not -and he was just dead weight of course. A cooler or spare tire can be used in an emergency. #2, You'd think that a 'hero' must just feel so great, but at least in my case what happened was I kept replaying the last few seconds of the rescue when I wasn't sure I was going to get to him before he went down for the last time. My arms and legs were burning in a way that I have never felt, from paddling so furiously (he was quite a ways out). For many nights I woke up in a cold sweat with those last seconds pounding through my brain. So I can imagine that the hero in the OP's story might be having a tough time emotionally too.