The year 1964 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the American National Red Cross water safety program. In that year, 232 persons were awarded the coveted Certificate of Merit for saving lives through skills learned in Red Cross courses. The certificate they won, which is signed by the President of the United States and the Chairman of the American Red Cross, may be granted to people who have had water safety or first aid training. Both programs share in the overall purpose of the American organization's Safety Services: the saving of lives through public education in accident prevention and through courses that teach people how to respond when accidents do happen in the home, at work, on the highway, in the water, and elsewhere. Thousands of heroes and heroines, many unrecognized, have used their training to avert tragedies throughout the United States over the past 50 years.