Coast Guard Petty Officer Second Class Zac Edwards had a pretty good reason for interrupting his wedding.
He rushed into the ocean shortly after the ceremony to save a drowning teenager.
“I wasn’t going to let him drown,” Edwards, a marine science technician at Sector Mobile told Compass, the Coast Guard's blog, shortly after the rescue.
Wednesday Rear Adm. John Nadeau, commander, Eighth Coast Guard District is expected to present the Silver Lifesaving medal to Edwards during a ceremony at Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Alabama.
The Edwards’ were married at Orange Beach, Alabama on Aug. 2, 2018. After the ceremony, they were posing for pictures when a woman pointed out a teenage boy in the water who appeared to be in distress. Edwards spotted him about 60 yards out.
As Edwards raced to the ocean, he spotted two teens with boogie boards. Afraid they would try to help, he asked for a board and told them to get out of the water. When he finally got to the boy, he had already drifted about 120 yards from the beach.
According to the blog, Edwards grabbed him and put the boogie board under the boy’s head to keep his mouth out of the water and began swimming back to shore.
The currents were strong, however, and Edwards decided to keep the boy’s head above water and “wait it out” until help arrived. When a lifeguard on a personal watercraft got there, Edwards and the boy climbed aboard and rode back to shore.
“It took everything I had to hold on to him,” Edwards said. “It was rough getting in. I bounced my face off the sled and I was bleeding.”
The Silver Lifesaving Medal is awarded to any member of the Coast Guard who rescues, or endeavors to rescue any other person from drowning, shipwreck, or other peril of the water in waters within the United States or subject to U.S. jurisdiction, or one of the parties must be a citizen of the United States.
“I didn’t know that the day that changed our family’s life for the better would also change another family’s life for the better too,” Edwards said.
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Reach Julia LeDoux: Julia@connectingvets.com
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