Life guards/water rescues

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One of my friends here asked a question about being rescued by a life guard. That got me to thinking about my experiences. There were 2 occasions that I've been "rescued." The first time I didn't know I needed rescuing & the other time I knew I didn't. (My question will be at the end.) The first one was when I was a pretty young child, maybe 6 at the oldest, probably closer to 5. My cousin, Dean, my brother & I were building the BEST sand castle we had ever made. We were at Jenkins beach in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. We had been working on it for a long time, it was our biggest & best. We had been reenforcing it against the incoming tide & the waves were just beginning to get close, sometimes touching our outer walls... Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I vaguely recalling seeing my brother & cousin also grabbed by people running up around us, screaming. The next thing I remember is there was a BIG BOAT in the MIDDLE of OUR SAND CASTLE!!!!! Then I was in one of my aunt's arms being handed to my mom & my brother was being carried to join us. Do I remember life guards? No. But I remember the BOAT! The next time I saw a lifeguard was at the same beach, years later. Now, I don’t know why, but it seems people that do a lot of ocean swimming, don’t really learn how to swim. I was eleven, & we were body surfing the waves. This isn’t the best beach for surfing, the drop is very abrupt, the waves hit very close to the beach. The waves were running about 6 feet, anything higher & they close the beaches there because of the danger. I slipped under the wave & it broke on me. Next thing I knew I was “eating” sand, being pounded into the beach by the breaker. I held my breath, kept my eyes closed & started crawling out. When the water started sucking back, I sank my hands into the sand/gravel & held on. The life guard got me before the next wave did & we walked out of the surf, he asking me if I was all right. “Sure, why shouldn’t I be?” I asked. I wasn’t even panicked, I had known I was fine, just gotten a swimsuit full of sand & gravel that was all. I guess that he was surprised. “I can swim,” I told him, & that seemed to surprise him too. My mom came over & had me sit for a while, but really I was about done for the day anyway. The water at Point Pleasant is pretty cold & I’m not much into cold water. So, have any of you ever been rescued, whether you needed to be or not?