Remarkable reunion of the young boy swept to Brave Peter couldn’t swim but jumped in to save me

The treacherous coast at Tayport where the drama for Peter Beckett and his two pals unfolded.

It wasn’t the first time Peter had clung firmly on to Eddie’s arm. But six decades had passed since then.

Now, Peter was here to relay a simple message to Eddie: “Thank you for saving my life.”

Incredibly, this heart- warming reunion was the first time the pair had seen each other for 66 years.

Brave Eddie Manzie was just 14 when he jumped into the icy waters of the Firth of Tay in Tayport, Fife, to rescue not just Peter Beckett, who was then seven, but two other children, too.

And that was despite the fact Eddie was unable to swim.

His valiant exploits made national headlines at the time and the schoolboy was given a certificate for his bravery from the British Humane Society.

The Sunday Post covered the epic rescue in the February 12, 1950 edition.

But Eddie, now 80, never saw the boys again – with Peter, emigrating to Canada within months of the near-disaster.

Peter has only returned briefly to Scotland once since then.

But last month he flew back to his homeland with his family who had secretly engineered a meeting with saviour Eddie at his Tayport home.

Peter, who has since returned to his home in Trenton, Ontario, and who is now 74, said: “I have a lot to thank Eddie for – it was a very emotional reunion.

“I was completely speechless when I walked into the room. I had no idea my family had been secretly arranging it.

“Eddie and I were both welling up. If it hadn’t been for him we would have almost certainly have died.

“The gravitas of what he did sunk in as I realised I – and my children and grandchildren – wouldn’t be here without him.”

Our original story told how Peter – who went on to have three children and

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