The president Donald Trump announced this Tuesday that he will invite a 16-year-old lifeguard to the White House who saved a ten-year-old boy from drowning at a beach in California, and will award him a high civilian honor for his bravery.
Trump made the announcement on his account on Truth Social: "We are going to bring this heroic young man, and his family, to the White House, perhaps along with the child he saved, to bestow a High Civil Honor upon him. Very brave, he deserves it," the president wrote.
The rescue took place on Saturday, July 25, at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, when the teenager —whose identity has not been disclosed due to being a minor— noticed that a ten-year-old boy had been swept about 15 meters out to sea by violent waves.
The photographer Scott Vander Dussen was the one who alerted the lifeguard after seeing the child's head appearing and disappearing among the waves.
According to the account collected by CBS News, the young man held onto the child with what the photographer himself described as a "gorilla grip," resisting the force of the waves as he progressively moved toward the shore.
Some swimmers tried to help, but the waves knocked them down and they retreated in fear. A second rescuer joined in the effort to complete the operation. The child was evaluated by paramedics and reunited with their family without serious injuries.
What makes the feat even more remarkable is that the teenager was in his first season of work as a lifeguard when he performed the rescue.
It is not the first time that Trump has used the White House to acknowledge acts of bravery: in March 2025, he appointed the cancer patient DJ Daniel as an honorary agent of the Secret Service, and last February he awarded a medal to an injured pilot.
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