Marine Drowns Saving Boys' Lives

David Greeson of Mebane, N.C., is spending his carefree summer days playing basketball with his older brother.

(ABC News)

That may be an average day for a 12-year-old, but unlike most kids his age, Greeson learned no day is guaranteed.

"Sometimes I even think about the feeling of being dragged out to the ocean and then I just stop thinking about it because it's so scary," he said.

In early May, Greeson and his family went to the beach. Marine Master Sgt. Michael Wert was also at the beach with his wife, Debbie, and three children.

"The girls were flying a kite, and Mikey was playing in and out of the water in the sand," Debbie Wert said.

Greeson and another boy were also playing in the water, when they suddenly realized a current was taking them away from shore.

"We're not supposed to go past waist-deep water and I just realized that I was in water that was about this high, and …I kept trying to get back in but the current, just some kind of current or something kept pulling me back," Greeson said.

Greeson's mother, Pam Greeson, saw what was happening and began yelling for help.

"She was yelling and I don't even remember what she said but I said, 'Mike, I think those boys out there are in trouble,'" Debbie Wert said.

Courageous Father and Daughter

Michael Wert, an intelligence chief who served in the Gulf War and a 17-year Marine veteran, sprang into action as his wife called 911.

With the boys in tow, Wert was making his way back to shore.

"He was swimming pretty fine and then just suddenly stopped," Greeson said.

The panicked boys continued on their own, when Wert's 15-year-old daughter, Katrina, who had followed her father into the water, met the boys with a body board.

"That's what helped. She said, 'Get onto the body board and paddle,'" Greeson said. "When were close to shore, she was like, 'What happened to my dad?'"

On shore, Debbie Wert was coming to the same horrifying conclusion.

"We saw the kids, and at that point I just saw three heads and it just kind of didn't register until someone said, 'We don't see Mike out there anymore,'" she said.