A normal day at the Naval Station Mayport beach in Florida turned out anything but for two swimmers, thanks to four visiting sailors.
The swimmers, two teenage girls, ran into trouble about 75 yards off the shore on May 5 at about the same time the sailors ― Chief Petty Officer Aniahau Desha, Hospitalman Gaston Yescas, Petty Officer 1st Class Sheldon Lucius, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Essick ― were settling on the beach.
“I was on the beach with my wife, and everyone showed up there, Josh, Sheldon, and Gaston. We’d just sat down, and some ladies came up the beach were yelling for help, seeing that the girls were out in the waves, needing help. They were in trouble, so we just ran into the water and got them,” Desha told U.S. Armed Forces Sports.
The sailors, members of the All-Navy Men’s Vollyball team, pulled both girls out of the water, performing CPR on one until emergency personnel arrived.
“When we got on shore, as soon as I picked her up, I noticed that she wasn’t breathing. It was obvious that she wasn’t breathing. I checked for her pulse ― there was no pulse. So we immediately started chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth,” said Desha.
The girl has since been released from the hospital.
“It makes me feel great to hear that she made it out alive,” Yescas said. “Her mom sent us a message on Facebook to let us know that she was getting discharged, and that her daughter was going to write us a letter and send us a picture just saying thank you for what we did.”
