President Trump honored sixteen-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams and the young boy he rescued in California. Williams helped rescue Nathaniel Rae from 10-foot-tall waves at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California. The rescue was seen on camera and shared on social media.
“We’re honored to have all of you. And again, what you did was incredible,” Trump said to Williams, as per CBS News. “And everybody saw it. And you’d watch it over and over. I know when I first saw it, I said, ‘Roll that back, I want to see that again. Is that really happening?'”
“Maybe lifeguards don’t get the credit they deserve,” he said.
“We’re going to bring this heroic young man, and his family, into the White House with, perhaps, the boy he saved, to give him a High Civilian Honor,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social following the rescue. “Very brave, he deserves it!”
Williams described the rescue in July:
“I was at the waterline 15 yards downcoast of Tower 2 making safety contact when I looked up and saw a child about 20 (yards) up from the tower lose his footing in ankle-deep water. I radioed it in, threw my radio and sunglasses at the base of my tower as I ran toward the kid. I put my fins on my wrist, popped my buoy and entered the water to get ahold of the child. Due to the volatility of the water, I was unable to tube up the victim. After the first wave, I was unable to pull him out because he was limp and waves were pushing so hard. There were two or three more waves before lifeguard Aaron Bohnen entered the water to help me. There were bystanders who jumped in to try to help, and I yelled at them all to get back to shore.”
He added that once Rai was safe, he was assessed and Williams returned to his tower. “This is my job and I love what I do,” he said. “I’m thankful to my fellow lifeguards who perform rescues just like this every day.”
