A Utah airman was rewarded for saving mother and son while on vacation

Salt Lake City, Utah – A mother and son in South Carolina will always be indebted to a Utah Air National Guard airman who used his leave of absence to save lives.

Rebecca Bennett was on a family vacation in the Isle of Palms in South Carolina last May when something terrible almost happened.

“I was telling the kids we could go out, grab the boogie board, catch the waves,” Bennett recalled. “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.”

She then noticed Will, her 12-year-old son, was still 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 stated last week.

Bennett entered the water on a rented boogie board because she knew she had to follow her son into the water and ended up trapped by the ferocious waves.

“I wanted to get him out of there, but the waves were so fierce we couldn’t,” Bennett said. “I was like a rag doll.”

First Class Airman While strolling on shore leave with a friend, Jacob Teel noticed something in the huge surf 75 yards offshore.

Teel recounted, “I looked out and I saw a dot.” I wasn’t giving it any thought. I seem to recall that I can swim. My mind was pretty much blank for a long after that.”

Bennett felt truly at ease back in the choppy surf.

She reflected solemnly, “This is it, and I thought Will and I were going to die there.” “He said, ‘I don’t want to die,’ and he started screaming, ‘God help us!'”

Teel was fighting the sea to reach the dot he had noticed, and then he noticed two.

“It was a horrifying realization that there were two people. He described how he finally got in touch with the youngster and his mother, saying, “I thought I was going to have to make a choice.”

“The child began to ask questions as I approached the coast. Will I pass away?

All three returned to shore without incident.

“And then I said, ‘Thank you, you saved our lives,’ and he was gone,” Bennett recalled.

Now, over a year after that rescue, Teel received the Airman’s Medal, awarded for valiant actions not involving combat.

“I can swim, and I want them back,” was all that was going through my mind. I don’t give my own life much thought,” he said.

The Bennett family and their guardian angel are now separated by a year and hundreds of miles, yet their bond will never fade.

“I think about him every day and what he did,” Bennett stated, “and I’m thankful to be with my kids and family.”