A New York courier man finally meets an Irish "hero" who lifted his lifeless body from the bottom of a canal 56 years ago

Fifty-six years after his lifeless body was removed from a Limerick City cbad, Michael Downes, a father of four in New York City, finally met his rescuer and told him "thank you."

The Brooklyn native was seven when he slipped and fell to Cbad Bank in Corbally, while visiting his Irish parents in July 1963.

Mícheál Mulcahy, 17, of Garryowen, was the local hero who put his life in danger to save the drowning American boy.

Until today, they had never met or spoken since the dramatic incident, as Downes had left the scene before an exhausted Mulcahy finally came out of the room. ################################################>>>>>>>>>>>>> Water in his wet clothes.

The two men had kissed each other at a moving meeting at Mulcahy's in Parteen.

Downes hugged and kissed Mulcahy and said, "Thank you, if it was not for you, I would not be here and my kids would not be here … Amazing."

"It took me fifty-six years to come back and say thank you, you are a real hero," he said.

"I'm glad you came back, you have not changed a bit," joked Mulcahy.

Downes said that the incident was forever etched in his memory: "I remember it as if it was yesterday." I can still see the bottom of the channel, the chain hanging over it the cbad wall and the garbage that is there.

"I became very calm and I thought – that was it – and all of a sudden, the next thing I know, somehow, I get out of the water … someone came for me. "

Mulcahy, who worked nearby, heard other children "shout" for help and he ran to the water's edge.

"Nobody came in. They were screaming for a rope, there was no trace of you," he told Downes.

After diving, Limerick's father, father of four spotted Downes, who, he said, did not move.

"And going down to look for you, and the next thing I saw on the floor, you were so close to being (dead)." Once I lifted it off the floor, I put my shoulders under you and got up and screamed for a rope.

"I never saw you again." I stayed inside (of the cbad) and everyone took this boy and left me there. Never forget, "he recalls.

Downes described a feeling of "calm" as he sank down the cbad.

He had "agreed" that he was going to die.

"You gave in. I could see it, not a little bit of life," said Mulcahy.

Fortunately for Downes, who did not know how to swim, Mulcahy knew the local waterway well.

"I was born and raised there, along the cbad, where I learned to swim, to play with children, so I stayed at home," Mulcahy said.

"At 17, I'm sure I will raise Saint John's Cathedral," he joked.

Mulcahy admitted however, since then he has often thought that it could have been a double tragedy if he had not been a powerful swimmer.

"They left me inside, I swam up the stairs but I had boots on me and a big heavy sweater." delighted, it is to have dipped to go as deep as possible, "he added.

After regaining consciousness and vomiting water in his lungs on the edge of the cbad, Downes claimed that he was going to his grandmother's house and that he had not talked about his death.

"I was just a kid, I just thanked God for coming out of the water. It was so unreal," he added.

One of Downes' four sons traveled to Mulcahy 10 years ago to thank him for saving his father, but Mulcahy said he still hoped to finally meet the boy he had rescued.

Downes said he had promised his mother of Limerick, who died last March, to travel to Limerick from his home in the United States to meet Mulcahy.

"My mother was the link, so I thought the time was right for me, I thought I owed it to my mother, so that's why I came and I'm so happy to meet Mícheál. "

Linda, Downes' wife, cried in joy as she watched the two men talk about the incredible moment that has been connecting them for almost 60 years.

She said: "Michael wants to thank him since it happened.This is my soulmate, and if he was dead, I would have never met him and we were not there. We would never have our four boys, I'll start crying again.

"It means a lot to both of us, and I'm so happy that Mícheál is still here on earth, to thank him, I'm just overwhelmed."

Downes (63) and Mulchay (73) grilled their reunion with a glbad of Irish whiskey before heading to the scene.

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