SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah Air National Guard airman found time on leave to save lives, and a mother and son in South Carolina are forever grateful.
Last May, Rebecca Bennett was on a family trip at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina when tragedy nearly hit.
"I was telling the kids we could go out, grab the boogie board, catch the waves," Bennett explained. "In no time, it was ... the high tide was coming in and the wind picked up and it went from peaceful and calm to unbelievable."
That’s when she saw her 12-year-old son Will still out in the water.
"I ran down the beach, near the pier, and I had to go in the water before I even saw him, and I saw his head on the waves, and for me that was the worst part because I didn’t know if he was alive," she said this week.
Bennett knew she had to go in after her son, so with a borrowed boogie board, she went into the water and became trapped by the fierce ocean herself.
"I wanted to get him out of there, but the waves were so fierce we couldn’t," Bennett added. "I was like a rag doll."
Airman 1st Class Jacob Teel was taking a shore leave stroll with a friend when he looked out and saw something in the high waves 75 yards offshore.
"I looked out and I saw a dot," Teel recalled. "I wasn’t really thinking. I remember saying I can swim. After that my thoughts went more or less blank for a while."
Back in the violent waves, Bennett was actually at peace
"This is it, and I thought Will and I we were going to die there," she somberly remembered. "He said, 'I don’t want to die,' and he started screaming, 'God help us!'"
Meanwhile, Teel was battling the sea to get to the dot he first saw, then he saw two.
"When I realized there were two people, it was a very terrifying thought. I thought I was going to have to make a choice," he said, sharing how he eventually reached the boy and his mother.
"As I got closer to shore, the boy, he started asking questions. Am I going to die?"
All three safely made it back to shore.
"And then I said, 'Thank you, you saved our lives,' and he was gone," Bennett said.
Now, more than a year after that rescue, Teel was honored with the Airman’s Medal, which denotes heroic efforts outside combat.
"All I could think was I can swim and I want to get them back. I don’t think about my own life," he shared.
A year and thousands of miles now separate the Bennetts and their guardian angel, but they’ll be forever connected.
"I think about him every day and what he did," Bennett said, "and I’m thankful to be with my kids and family."
