Nash County man saves girl in Atlantic Beach surf

With a summer already marred by drownings along the North Carolina, a story from Atlantic Beach is an inspiring surprise. It's story of a swimmer in trouble, and the man sitting on the beach refusing to just stand by.

That man is Allen Wilson, known as Captain Allen Wilson to the rank and file of the Nash County Sheriff's Department. Wilson is the captain of the special operations department.

Sunday, just before noon, Wilson was off-duty, enjoying vacation on the sand of Atlantic Beach. But a man like Wilson is never really off-duty. “I had mentioned to my wife,” he tells of the day's events, “If anybody gets in trouble, lord knows, I'm going to have to help them.”

It was a prophetic statement. A swimmer had trouble, and Wilson, lord knows, jumped in to help. “I just feel it was God who put me there. And God gave me the tools to be able to use,” Wilson said.

Captain Wilson was sitting in his beach chair. His wife and son were there as well. He noticed a girl, maybe 12-years old, struggling on a float about 100 yards away.

“It wasn't long after that she came off the float from a wave, she appeared to try to swim to it, the float went one way and she started going another way,” Wilson explained. “I could tell she was distressed.”

Captain Wilson told his son to bring him one of their boogie boards. He saw a pool noodle in the surf and grabbed that as well. Armed with less that professional rescue equipment he took off into the water.

“I got close, and asked her if she could swim to me, she was panicking, you could tell she was panicking,” Wilson was able to grab the girl, and using the boogie board and pool noodle for buoyancy the pair still struggled. “We tried to swim in together, and as we started swimming it was obvious we won't going anywhere,” he said, “You could feel the current pulling us out.”

“By this time I was already getting pretty exhausted. So I knew if we could just (get close) enough, one of the waves would pick us up, and it did, thank the Lord, we were able to get a little closer and a little closer.” Finally the pair reached the beach. “By the time we got to shore she was completely out of energy and I was gassed.”

Captain Wilson says he's not a strong swimmer on a good day, he can barely swim the length of a pool. “Honestly, if I had not seen that ring I was able to use, that flotation device, I don't think I would have made it back in myself.”

But he did make it. So did the little girl. She was checked out by rescue crews on the beach but not taken to the hospital.

The Atlantic Beach Fire Department would not release the name of the girl. Wilson remembers her name is Alexandria, she is from Maryland, but he didn't get any other information. Before he and Alexandria parted ways, the girl's mom asked them to pose together for a picture.

“For 33 years I served law enforcement just to do what's right, to try to help others,” Wilson insists he just did what he does.

“I'm not a hero, I don't claim to be a hero,” Wilson says, but heroes don't get to choose that moniker, it's placed upon them by those they help. A little girl from Maryland might argue with his denial. “I'm someone who was in the right place at the right time and was able to be used.”