Conservation Officer Thomas J. Mellon

Thomas J. Mellon

Officer Mellon drowned after his boat capsized on the Manistique River while he was en route to the scene of a forest fire.

Conservation Officer Mellon and five others headed out to fight a fire raging along the Manistique River in Schoolcraft County when the boat hit a submerged deadhead in the river. As the boat struck the obstacle, it ripped open the bottom, stopping it immediately. The boat then started taking on water and began to sink.

As the men abandoned the boat, Officer Mellon and another man who were unable to swim began struggling in the river's strong current. Both the man and Officer Mellon, who had lost his right hand in a circular saw accident in 1924, disappeared under the water. Their bodies were recovered later that night.