Kadena Middle School librarian pulls teenager from rough seas off Okinawa

A man stands inside a school library wearing a humorous blue Oregon Trail video game themed T-shirt that says, “Please be Patient with Me I’m from the 1900s.”

Michael Cottrell, a Kadena Middle School librarian, rescued a teenager from rough waters in Sunabe, Okinawa, Aug. 27, 2026. (Photo by Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)

CHATAN, Okinawa — A middle school librarian at Kadena Air Base pulled a 19-year-old man from rough seas in central Okinawa last week after a wave swept the teenager into the water.

Michael Cottrell was walking his dog Thursday near a water purification plant in Chatan’s Minato district when he noticed two young men near the edge of the surging East China Sea, he told Stars and Stripes on Monday.

One stood on concrete steps leading toward the water and appeared to be searching for something that had washed away, Cottrell said. Then he realized the other was struggling in the surf.

Waves repeatedly pushed the teenager against concrete wave-break structures before Cottrell heard him scream for help.