The president Donald Trump announced this Tuesday that he will invite a 16-year-old rescuer to the White House who saved a ten-year-old boy from drowning at a beach in California, and he will award him a high civil 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 boy he saved, to award him a High Civil Honor. Very brave, he deserves it," wrote the president.
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 upon seeing the child's head appearing and disappearing among the waves.
According to the account collected by CBS News, the young man held on to the child with what the photographer himself described as a "gorilla grip," resisting the battering of the sea while gradually making his way to the shore.
Some swimmers tried to help, but the waves knocked them down, and they stepped back in fear. A second rescue worker joined the effort to complete the operation. The child was assessed by paramedics and reunited with his 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 carried out the rescue.
It is not the first time 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 just last February, he awarded a medal to an injured pilot.
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