The team deployed around 7 a.m. Friday from Corpus Christi, about 200 miles south of where the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, had risen from about 3 feet to nearly 30 feet. Floodwaters in the area had swept through and battered several youth camps on the river banks — including Camp Mystic, the summer camp where they were headed.

He stayed behind alone to comfort terrified campers while floodwaters rose around them. This Coast Guard hero was on his first mission.

A New Jersey man with the U.S. Coast Guard is being hailed as a hero for helping rescue more than 165 people from the deadly Texas floods. Many of those rescued were girls staying at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp,