— A Lucerne native will become the first woman inducted into a prestigious military college’s hero society.

In July, Abigail Webber Zuehlke waded into the rough ocean waters at Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina and rescued two Marines caught in a riptide and on the verge of drowning.

Her actions grabbed the attention of officials at her alma mater, The Citadel, and they nominated her for induction into the Arland D. Williams Society. The society is named for a 1957 Citadel graduate who died Jan. 13, 1982, in the icy waters of the Potomac River, a Citadel spokeswoman said.

Williams is credited with saving five people aboard Air Florida Flight 90 after it crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C.

Rather than take a life ring to save himself, he passed it on to five fellow passengers. He drowned before he could be rescued, the spokeswoman said.

On Nov. 12, Zuehlke will become the 20th member of the society — and the first female.

The revered military college opened in 1842. Its corps of cadets was open to only men until 1996, when, amid protests and national media publicity, women were first allowed to attend.

The significance of Zuehlke’s induction speaks for itself, said Mike Rogers, director of The Citadel Alumni Association.

“The good ol’ boys will be rolling in their graves,” Rogers said with a laugh.

Zuehlke started in the corps of cadets at The Citadel in 1999 — just three years after the corps first allowed females to attend. She was a Pioneer High School graduate and former France Park lifeguard.

On Friday, Zuehlke downplayed the significance of the honor. She said it wasn’t a big deal that she would be the first female inducted.

“The society hasn’t been around that long,” she simply said.

It was created in 2000 to recognize graduates who have distinguished themselves through community service, heroism and bravery. Rogers said Zuehlke is perfect for the society.

When he heard her story recently, he said, “This is really good. We need to honor her.”

Rogers said he knew Zuehlke well when she was a cadet at the college. To her, what she did on the beach in South Carolina would have seemed normal, he said.

Rogers said it was anything but.

“I know how awful the weather was that day,” he said. “And I know how bad riptides can be. We lose people every year to them.”

He said the two Marines would have died without Zuehlke.

Rogers said not every nominee is inducted into the society.

“If I’m a policeman or a fireman, and I go into a burning building, I’m just doing my job,” Rogers said. “We have to find alumni that are out of the ordinary, like Abigail.”

Rogers said she is among an elite group.

That group includes William McCombs. He saved two people whose car landed in a gully following a wreck. McCombs pulled a woman from the sinking car and went back into the gully to find a man who had gone under the water, according to The Citadel’s website.

Travis Fortson was inducted in 2007 for stopping on an interstate in South Carolina to help those involved in a crash he had witnessed.

While helping with the wreck, a truck jackknifed and crashed into Fortson. He later lost his leg, the school’s website said.

Zuehlke’s friend and fellow Citadel graduate Tim Glas was present the day she saved the two Marines.

“From what I saw that day on the beach, she definitely did this at great personal risk,” he said.

Glas said it was the sort of self-sacrifice that former President Ronald Reagan talked about when he spoke at Glas’s graduation in 1993.

“It's a big part of what being a Citadel graduate means to me, what it meant to those who graduated before me and what it means to those like Mrs. Zuehlke who graduated long after,” Glas wrote in an email.

• Lindsey Ziliak is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or lindsey.ziliak@pharostribune.com.