By Wendy Colsen
Go big or go home – that’s the motto Jim “The Shark” Dreyer lives by, or rather, swims by. And go big he did with his recent U.S. 250th Cannonball Memorial Swim in early August.
For the swim, a commemorate tribute to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the Michigan native towed 250 cannonballs in two10-foot dinghies for 22 miles off the shores of Whitehall, Michigan. The cannonballs weighed 6 lbs. each, for a total of 1500 lbs.
“The number of the cannonballs was symbolic,” said Dreyer. “This is a true legacy project.”
The cannonballs represent America’s 250 years as a free country and will be used to build the U.S. 250th Combat Veteran’s Memorial as a tribute to the combat veterans who fought for our country’s freedom.
“We’ve got so much to celebrate in the U.S.,” said Dreyer. “But how can we celebrate freedom and not honor our combat veterans who fought to win and preserve it for us?”
“I have a lot of time to think when I’m swimming, and the idea popped into my head,” he continued. “I’m experienced at pulling heavy weight for a swim – a ton of bricks and a 27-ton car ferry.”
“The weight of the cannonballs was also deeply symbolic. I thought I could pull them to represent not only the weight of war experienced by our combat veterans on the fields,” he said, “but also the weight of war felt by our veterans when they return to civilian life and experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or the effects of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) which can contribute to veteran suicide.”
For the memorial swim, not only were the number and weight of the cannonballs representative of freedom and its cost to U.S. veterans, but Dreyer also chose the number of miles he swam to represent the estimated number of U.S. veterans who die by suicide per day.
According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, “Research shows that a history of traumatic brain injury roughly triples the suicide rate compared to the general population, with risk escalating significantly for individuals who have suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries.”
“TBI is the signature injury from the post-9-11 conflicts. The Department of Defense and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center estimate that 22 percent of combat casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan involve TBIs, most of which are mild in severity, or simply a concussion.”
Though not a direct causal relationship, PTSD and TBI can be compounded by other issues such as depression, chronic pain, sleep disruptions and substance use, all which can further impact the risk of suicide.
Dreyer’s memorial swim sought not only to honor combat veterans, but to also shed light on the physical, psychological and social challenges when veterans return to civilian life after they leave active duty.
Some combat veterans face a litany of difficulties to overcome when returning from war. These difficulties can be even more challenging due to gaps in the healthcare system, stigmas surrounding mental health and the complexity of accessing VA benefits.
Challenges faced by combat veterans can include the following:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Traumatic brain injury
- Mental health struggles, especially depression and suicide
- Moral injury
- Substance abuse
- Chronic pain
- Disabilities
- Toxic exposures
- Loss of community
- Identity crisis
- Family strain
- Unemployment
- Financial struggles
- Homelessness
- The complexity of navigating the VA
In addition to bringing awareness to the hardships combat veterans face, Dreyer wanted to honor the service of his father and uncle who served in the military as well. His father Jack Dreyer and his Uncle Bob Dreyer were both World War II combat veterans.
The swim also celebrated and honored some of his support team members who helped make the event possible, plus former co-worker and good friend Merton Klinker, (who has since passed) who was a WWII Marine and witnessed the horrors of the Battle of Iwo Jima. That battle alone cost the lives of 6,821 Marines and Navy corpsmen (over 19,000 were wounded) and over 20,000 of the Japanese forces.
The memorial swim began on August 7 when Dreyer’s crew dropped him 22 miles from shore beyond the horizon at 5:00 p.m.
In tribute to his father’s service, Dreyer carried one cannonball in a rucksack on his back. The rest of the 249 cannonballs were packaged in groups of four, put in heavy duty Ziplock bags, taped and spread between two dinghies that were strapped to Dreyer’s ankles with bungee cords.
At the start, the dinghies were positioned one behind the other, but that all changed as time wore on and conditions worsened. With 3-to-5-foot waves and shifting currents, it was an arduous task.
“Each time the dinghies would crest a wave, it was like a tug-of-war. The first dingy would crest and as it sank into the trough, I would lurch ahead. The back dingy would then catch the crest and it would jerk me back,” said Dreyer. “It was a constant push and pull, even when the current was favorable. I’d have to keep restarting my momentum. It was tough.”
Twelve hours into the swim, and unbeknownst to Dreyer, the dinghies had taken quite a beating and were on the brink of sinking. All could be lost.
“I’ve never done a swim where something didn’t go wrong,” said Dreyer. “You’re always expecting the unexpected.”
And at 5:00 a.m. on August 8, the unexpected came a knockin’.
Dreyer had stopped to take nourishment and noticed that the grommet welds lining the sides of the dinghies had partially broken loose during the night. One dinghy was cockeyed and not pulling in a straight line.
“Those dinghies were jerking around so violently on the waves,” said Dreyer. “I was afraid the air bladder would become compromised, and it would sink. I had to fix it.”
The situation went from bad to worse when the rear dinghy’s bow started coming up out of the water as the stern was sinking. Even though there were bilge pumps, Dreyer felt the urgency and knew he had to act fast.
“The dinghy was sinking and with the stern underwater, it wasn’t even logical that I could try to get the water out,” Dreyer recalled. “I had to try though. There was nothing else I could do or the dinghy would sink.”
From 5:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. Dreyer stopped swimming, and instead, battled to save the dinghy.
“Somehow, I can’t explain it, but I started gaining on the sinking boat,” he said. “It was like I’d get two steps ahead and then one step back. A wave would wash in and I’d go back, but I was finally able to get ahead of it and get the dinghy drained.”
After assessing the situation and shifting the cannonballs from stern to bow, Dreyer decided to move the dinghies side-by-side instead of in-line.
As he worked to configure them together on the good-weld side, the dinghies (both weighing 1500 collectively with the cannonballs, minus the one on his back) were crushing him as they smashed together each time the waves rolled in. He finally got the boats situated and tethered them to each ankle.
Dreyer was unaware at the time, but he actually ended up with separated ribs. Thinking it was just a muscle strain, he pushed through the pain and carried on with the swim.
“I was still getting jerked around,” I really didn’t feel confident that those dinghies were going to survive until I got into White Lake.”
Not only did Dreyer endure the dinghy debacle, but he also faced another unexpected turn when the current shifted against him, and he lost sight of his tracking landmark over the waves.
“I got swept away and aimed my sights at the wrong set of dunes,” said Dreyer.
The support crew noticed the variance in course and the lack of progress, so they drove out to let him know he was now headed toward Muskegon.
“When they told me, I had such a sinking feeling,” Dreyer said. “The crew stayed as I tried to get back on course, but the waves were hitting hard and I was going backwards and losing ground.”
Dreyer had already swum 16 miles, but could the dinghies survive the extra battle to get him back on course? The team was faced with tough decisions to make.
“They first asked if I would consider taking off the pack with my dad’s cannonball in it and I said, ‘No, I will not take that rucksack off,” recalled Dreyer. “The second option didn’t land much better with me until I thought about.”
“My team said, ‘Jim, you’ve already swum 16 miles. You told everybody you were going to swim 22, so that’s 17 miles in Lake Michigan and 5 miles in White Lake. We could get you back on course and drop you off one mile from the channel. You will still get your 7 miles in the big lake, you’ll still get your 5 miles in White Lake, so you’ll end up with 22 miles in total.’”
As an athlete, Dreyer struggled to feel good about the option. His team then asked him if the dinghies could survive the extra time and distance it would take to fight the waves and get on course.
Knowing the surf was going against him, and that the dinghies were all but spent, Dreyer conceded.
“I couldn’t lose the cannonballs,” he said. “This wasn’t about me. It was bigger than me – it was about the combat veterans and the legacy project.
“If I continued to swim, it would be about me,” Dreyer continued. “If I did what I needed to do to make sure the dinghies made it to deliver the cannonballs, then it would be about the combat veterans.”
The team discussed it and they all agreed that the overall mission of transporting the cannonballs was the most important piece, plus keeping the 22 miles for what it symbolized. Dreyer was soon on his way to the finish.
“It ended up being a two-stage swim: a 16-mile swim at the start; one hour on the boat to get back on track to a place 6 miles from the end point; and then a 6-mile swim to finish,” recalled Dreyer. “I would have preferred a continuous swim, but Mother Nature had other plans. We had to save the cannonballs.”
As he headed into White Lake, boats lined the channel and a radio blared Eye of the Tiger and other patriotic music.
“When I got inside the channel, it got smoother,” said Dreyer. “In the last 5 miles, my confidence grew.”
Originally scheduled to arrive at 6:00 p.m. on August 8 during the White Lake Area Maritime Festival, Dreyer came into shore around 10 p.m. (29 hours and 5 minutes after the start) and the expectant crowd was still waiting in anticipation.
“The reception from the people of White Lake was amazing. It gave me chills,” recalled Dreyer. “People were along the channel, and they were in the water with their boats cheering me on with USA chants and “Shark” chants.”
Even at late hour, the Maritime Festival festivities in Goodrich Park went on as planned. The Honor Guard played taps for the combat veterans, there was a 3-gun salute, speeches were given and a flag was presented to the Mayor of Whitehall that will be the official flag to fly over the memorial when it is completed.
“The sense of community in the Whitehall/White Lake area was absolutely remarkable,” said David Volk, Dreyer’s right-hand-man. “They just rallied and were so positive with their support. The way they showed up was amazing.”
With all the fanfare and community backing, Dreyer knew he had made the right choice.
“They got the big picture of the event,” he said. “Whitehall was the best place to be home to the U.S. 250th Combat Veteran’s Memorial.”
Dreyer could not organize and complete his events alone. This year’s team was made up of Medical Director Dr. Jon Krohmer M.D.; Lead Paramedic Tim Webb who did 3 tours as an Army medic behind enemy lines in the Gulf War; and Ground Operations Director David Volk, a Marine combat veteran who served as a corporal in the Gulf War and participated in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
Mike Larsen is Dreyer’s usual support boat captain, but due to major electrical issues on his craft three weeks before the event, the team had to find an alternate boat and captain. Larsen’s role ended up being more behind the scenes this time.
All was not lost with a support vessel. Brad VanBergen, business owner and boat owner in White Lake, stepped in to help along with his crew: combat veteran and First Mate Rick Blankstrom; IT Specialist Bryan Van Antwerp; and Navy veteran Nate Hesse.
“Brad loved the cause,” said Dreyer, “and he loved the fact that it was going to result in a memorial.”
Dreyer’s 6-member crew’s task for the memorial swim was to drop him at the start position, make sure things were running smoothly at the beginning, return to port where they could monitor him through a satellite tracking device, do wellness checks, be on call for issues or emergency messages, and escort Dreyer at the end. Having the right people helped bring all the pieces together to make a successful event.
“I always liken the events to a military operation,” said Volk who managed the logistics on the ground and also acted as Crew Chief on the support boat. “There’s a lot that goes into the events to make them happen, a lot of moving parts – the structure, planning, logistics, all the entities that have to come together,” he said. “It’s not just dropping Jim in the water and saying, ‘Swim, Jim, swim.’”
“Working with Jim is amazing and it’s given me a sense of something I lost when I left the military,” continued Volk. “It’s given me the camaraderie, the team atmosphere and a sense of achievement because he’s assembled a really good team.”
“He’s given me a great opportunity,” said Volk. “Plus, the enthusiasm and motivation Jim brings to the table is incredible.”
With all that enthusiasm and motivation, one would never guess that a near-drowning when Dreyer was 3 years old would have prompted him to become a superhuman of sorts.
Among other amazing feats, he swam across Newport Beach Harbor towing a 27-ton car ferry; pulled a ton of bricks in a 22-mile swim across Lake St. Clair to Detroit; swam across all five Great Lakes setting records; and organized and participated in an 11-mile relay swim from the Lake Superior Edmund Fitzgeraldwreck site to Detroit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the shipwreck and honor the lives lost.
The drowning made a huge impact on Dreyer’s life, but it obviously did not hold him back at all.
“I dropped my toy fishing pole in the water and bent to retrieve it from where I stood on the dock. I’m in the water in a heavy snowsuit that weighed me down. I can’t right myself and my feet don’t touch the bottom,” recalled Dreyer. “I just remember seeing the sandy bottom and trying to reach it with my feet and realized I couldn’t breathe.”
His sister Linda Klunder, 17 years old at the time, was inside the family cottage and just happened to look out and see her brother floating face down in the water. Klunder raced down to the dock and pulled him out, saving young Dreyer’s life.
“I had a lifelong fear of open water, but at 32, I decided to take beginner swim lessons,” recalled Dreyer, “and at 34, I swam across Lake Michigan.”
It seems unlikely that what scared him most would become the arena for his passion.
“I was always an athlete and had admired triathlons, but the swimming part…” said Dreyer with resignation. “If I wanted to do a triathlon, I’d have to face my biggest fear.”
“It was so liberating to confront it and push through. I didn’t actually conquer my fear, but I learned how to control it,” he continued. “If you can stare down your biggest fear, then any other hurdle you come across in life is going to seem that much smaller.”
Apparently, proven by the U.S. 250th Cannonball Memorial Swim, no hurdle is too big for Dreyer.
As for the cannonball memorial, he and his team are currently working on soliciting donations to have it constructed. The 250 cannonballs towed by Dreyer are available for purchase in honor of combat veterans and will be mounted along with an honorary plaque on the monument.
Those interested in contributing to the U.S. 250th Combat Veteran’s Memorial in Whitehall, Michigan can do so at jimthesharkdreyer.com.
On a side note, Dreyer is interested in contacting the family of Merton Klinker who was from Grand Rapids and is asking readers for their help if they know him.
“I’d like to find his family because I’d like to give him a cannonball at the memorial,” said Dreyer. “I always admired him and I truly consider him a hero.”
Dreyer, 63, is a hero in his own right within the athletic arena, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. He already has a few things in the works for his next achievements, but we will just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, if you run across any heroes, be sure to thank them for their service.
