Wes Manion saw the man lying face down in the sand, his body bobbing in the waves entering Crystal Beach on Galveston Island. The man's skin was green and his mouth was foaming.

"I thought he had been dead at least a day," Manion said.

The 31-year-old construction worker from Katy said he almost didn't perform CPR on the stranger, briefly thinking it was futile. He learned the life-saving maneuver months earlier, part of his training toward becoming a reserve deputy constable for Harris County Precinct 6.

On Monday, the man who Manion saved on April 14 pinned the badge on the uniform of the department's latest addition to the reserve unit.

Jason Roy said the brisk wind gusts and cold water would not stop him from fishing. He tied a metal bucket around his waist, grabbed a fishing pole and walked out into the surf. Friends said the 28-year-old, a carpenter from Lufkin, was wading out past the breakers with that pole.

"The only thing I remember is waking up in the hospital," Roy said at Manion's commencement ceremony at the Denver Harbor Multi-Service Center. "I had a tube in my throat. The doctors told me the only reason they hooked (it) up was to keep my organs alive so they could be donated ... they say I am a miracle, and I agree."

Manion was one of 12 new reserve deputies sworn in on Monday. His colleagues, family and friends gave a standing ovation as Roy pinned the badge. Manion said he hopes to become a full-time deputy with Harris County.

On the beach that Saturday afternoon, the current was strong, Manion said.

"I remember thinking the water was so cold," he said. "I couldn't imagine anyone would go out there. I looked out and saw some of his friends out in the waves. Then I looked down and I saw him face down ... just bobbing."

Another person helped pull Roy onto the beach and Manion began performing CPR.

"If I hadn't taken that last year of training, I wouldn't have known what to do," said Manion, who works for Dominion Custom homes in Katy. "I cleared his airway and did chest compressions for about four minutes. Then he took a deep breath. He was breathing, but he was still unconscious."

Soon after Roy regained his pulse, emergency crews arrived.

Roy was flown by Life Flight to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was placed on a ventilator. Roy recovered and was released from the hospital on April 17. Manion visited him the day before he was released.

Shortly after, Roy received a call from his rescuer. Manion asked Roy if he would be interested in pinning his badge.

"It was an honor," said Roy. "A privilege ... the very least I could do. I said 'of course.' "

Roy, a carpenter at Lufkin Memorial Hospital, has follow-up appointments for bruised and fractured ribs. The two men look forward to their future friendship.

"We look forward to the day this all blows over and goes back to normal," said Manion.

"When this is over," Roy said, "we are going hunting together."

john.rigg@chron.com