Another Hero Is Gone

Marine Dies Trying to Save Drowning Children

ALMA, Mich. — A U.S. Marine drowned after saving two children who were swimming off Atlantic Beach in North Carolina, the military said.

Master Sgt. Michael Wert, an intelligence chief for the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point in Havelock, N.C., was vacationing this past weekend with his family at the beach when he saw two boys struggling in the surf, the Marines said in a statement.

His wife, Debbie, said her husband rushed into the water to help while she went to call 911. Their daughter, Katrina, grabbed a boogie board and followed Wert, a Michigan native, into the water.

“She managed to help the boys onto the board, but didn’t see her dad with them,” Debbie Wert said in the statement. “The one little boy told her (Michael Wert) had to let them go and had died.”

Rescue personnel found Wert but could not revive him.