Letter to the Editor: 'Ben Got His Rescue, but the Ocean Got Ben'

TO: Letter to the editor
FROM: Paul Matheis
SUBJECT: NBFD Lifeguard Ben Carlson

The city of Newport Beach and the community lost a true hero last Sunday when Newport Beach Lifeguard Ben Carlson selflessly entered the challenging and turbulent waters off Newport Beach. Ben’s actions, while at great personal cost, resulted in the rescue of yet another life in the storied career of this young waterman. Tragically, Ben paid the supreme sacrifice during this, his final rescue.
 
Ben was an experienced and skilled lifeguard, having worked for Newport Beach as a guard for the last 15 years. His commitment to duty, and courage in the face of sometimes dangerous waters whether at the Wedge, the surf line near 18th Street, or the rocks off Corona Del Mar have helped to save untold lives throughout his abruptly shortened career.

Ben Carlson was the nameless, faceless soldier of safety guarding residents and visitors in a community that seldom realizes how much they need him. His work, whether standing watch while posted at a tower, patrolling the beach in a Jeep, or as a deckhand on a rescue boat was performed quickly and quietly many times over on a day when the water was angry as it was last Sunday. This time Ben got his rescue, but the ocean got Ben. 

In a world where the truth is becoming more difficult to depend upon, and person-to-person communication has all too often been replaced by electronics, Ben and his colleagues risk life and limb while wearing little more protection than sun block.

Lifeguard Ben Carlson’s actions on Sunday, where his final act in life was to save the life of a stranger, serves to illustrate what a fine man Ben was, and the unwavering commitment to duty of this Hero of the Harbor in a final selfless epilogue.

Paul Matheis
Irvine,