Pete Morrison and his brother, Steve, both of Breezy Point; Don Blaeser, of Breezy Point; Paul Wermager, of Nisswa; and brothers Scott, of Breezy Point, and Kelly Zeidler, of Otsego, helped rescue anglers from swamped boats on the lake Aug. 15.

Shown from left are Paul Wermager, Don Blaeser, Scott Zeidler, Pete Morrison and Steve Morrison. Not pictured: Kelly Zeidler, Otsego. The fishermen got together for the first time since Rainy Lake to share stories of the rescue.

The men were leaving their island campsite on Rainy Lake on the Minnesota-Canada border when they came upon eight people who had been swamped by waves as high as 5 feet.

"We shouldn't have been on the lake ourselves," said Pete Morrison. "But if we had stayed at the camp then we wouldn't have been in a position to save the eight fishermen."

Steve and Don were in the lead boat when they came across black plastic bags in the water. Then they saw more items in the water such as coolers, sleeping bags, propane tanks and other fishing gear. At this point they realized they should start looking for people.

"I looked straight ahead and saw what looked like a man standing straight up in the water," said Steve. "Then I realized that the man was standing in his submersed boat. We approached the man to help but he told us to go on and help the others, some who were not with their boats."

"We ended up picking up the 80-year-old grandpa who had been in the water from 30 to 45 minutes," Don said. "He was blue and seemed to be unconscious."

"We made three attempts to get the grandpa, and when we started to pull him into the boat he was dead weight. He was a big man and had extra weight because of being soaked," said Steve.

The local fishermen were in three overloaded boats - Steve and Don in one; Pete and Paul in another; and Scott and Kelly in the third. Without thinking of themselves, they set about helping the other fishermen who were floating in the cold water.

"We were not in communication with each other, but we did what we had to do - not giving it much thought about what could happen to us," Paul said. "And we knew the others were doing what we were doing - helping those in need of our assistance."

"I was trying to pull in a 10-year-old who kept telling me he was too tired to pull himself up, but I yelled that he didn't have a choice and to keep hanging on to the boat," Pete said. "I had one hand on the boy and the other on the tiller. At times the boat went up in the air so high that the boy's feet were out of the water." Water slapped Pete in the face as he had to drop the tiller - putting them sideways to the wind - but freeing both hands to pull in the boy. The pair also rescued an adult.

All three rescue boats had to fight the wind and waves that came over the sides of the boats.

Good boating skills saved the day.

"We don't want to be known as heroes, we just did what anyone would do," said Pete.

Yet, others had the opportunity to help but didn't. Four boats went by the capsized boaters but didn't stop to help stating that they were overloaded with gear. They pulled up to shore and watched as the men went about pulling fishermen from the water.

"When it comes to saving a life or not: just throw the gear overboard," said Pete.

Scott and Kelly picked up two kids and an adult, but left one adult (later picked up by Park Rangers) because they were overloaded and the adult was safe standing in his submerged boat.

Pete and Paul took off to a cove and came across a houseboat. Pete got on the radio and called in their coordinates. The people on the boat gave help with warm clothing and hot chocolate. It was two hours before all six men got together to share their stories of the rescue.

Don and Steve brought the older gentleman to the dock where two of the grandchildren piled on grandpa and started crying. A 7-year-old girl couldn't stop saying thank you to the rescuers.

(Grandpa ended up going to the hospital but later was released).

All three of the capsized boats were totaled in the rough lake.

"This experience is one I will never forget," said Paul. "It was very emotional and while we were packing up to leave Rainy Lake I started to cry. I came across Pete who too was affected by the events of the day."

"I didn't sleep for a couple of days, "stated Scott. Others too found nights without sleep.

"We shouldn't have left our camp site, but things would have been different if we hadn't," said Paul.

"We are not real good about wearing lifejackets," said Pete, "but that day all of us put them on without hesitation.

"All eight were rescued because they were wearing lifejackets. " It could have been a different story had they not had on their jackets," Paul added.