Seabee Pulls 2 Arizona Men From Port Hueneme Waters

A Seabee rescued two Arizona men Sunday from the cold waters off the Port Hueneme pier.

Seabee Lowell Thompson, 18, helped pull Alan McFarland and Joseph Gonzalez from the water after one of the men fell from the pier and the other jumped in after him.

Thompson, who is stationed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme, waded into the water after he saw the men, one of whom was repeatedly being slammed against the pier by the waves.

“I went out there and pulled one guy off the post in the water and pulled him to shore. The other guy looked like he was doing OK. I just gave him a helping hand,” said Thompson, who is a student at the Construction Mechanic Apprentice School on the base.

McFarland, 43, was treated at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and released. Gonzalez, 36, was treated at the scene.

The two men were in the water about five minutes, police said.

The Ventura County Fire Department and paramedics from Gold Coast ambulance responded to the scene.

Thompson had been showing his roommate, who is from New Mexico, the ocean for the first time. The pair were sipping sodas on the beach when they heard that somebody had fallen into the water, Thompson said.

“It was a little intense, but I overcame the fear,” he said.

Afterward, news spread rapidly around the base at Port Hueneme that Thompson had saved two lives.

“Everybody calls me superhero,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the public safety officials at the scene congratulated him after the incident.

“I look back on it and I’m glad I saved the guy’s life,” he said.