Ocean City Hero Receives Carnegie Medal for Rip Current Rescue

Our community is celebrating one of its own this week as an Ocean City man receives one of the highest honors for civilian heroism in North America.

Frank LaFerrara, a 73-year-old grocery store worker, was awarded the Carnegie Medal on Monday, June 22, 2026, for his extraordinary courage in saving a teenage girl from a rip current last October. He was one of just 18 people across the United States and Canada to receive the prestigious recognition this year.

The Carnegie Hero Fund said everyone honored "risked serious injury or death attempting to save others in acts of extraordinary heroism."

Speaking on CBS News Philadelphia Wednesday morning, LaFerrara recounted the harrowing October 2025 rescue that earned him the medal. He had been relaxing on the beach when he noticed a young woman struggling in dangerous conditions.

"Well, I was sitting on the beach, just sunning. And I saw this young lady, and it was dangerous that day. In fact, my rescue was the second one that day. There were four people that had to get rescued about an hour before mine," LaFerrara said during his live television appearance. "And I just saw her and she was getting swept out by this rip current, but she wasn't trying to do anything to swim out of it. I said: 'I got to go.'"

What happened next was a testament to training that never truly fades. LaFerrara took a lifeguard course approximately 50 years ago, and those skills came flooding back in the moment of crisis.

"I just swam out there and kept my eye on her, there was no time to get rescue equipment," he explained. "And I got to her and of course, people panic. And she jumped on top of me and pushed me underwater, and screaming, 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die.'"

In that terrifying moment, LaFerrara's calm demeanor became the girl's lifeline. He reassured her with words that would prove prophetic: "You're not gonna die, I'm here."

The rescue required both physical strength and technical knowledge. LaFerrara knew the cardinal rule of rip current survival: never swim directly toward shore. Instead, he moved parallel to the beach, holding the panicked teenager with one arm while paddling with the other. He strategically used incoming waves to help push them closer to safety, advancing a few feet at a time.

"I couldn't let her go, cause she'd go right underwater again. So I held her on with one arm, and I just paddled the best I could with the other one," LaFerrara recalled. "Once in awhile a wave came, and I just let it push us in a little bit more."

When they finally reached shallow water where LaFerrara could stand, a young man from By the Sea, a store on the boardwalk, arrived with a float to help walk the girl the rest of the way to shore.

For LaFerrara, the Carnegie Medal is meaningful, but it's not what drives him. The real reward came in a quieter moment after the rescue.

"It's overwhelming, it's really overwhelming... My biggest reward is when she came up to me later on, and said thank you. And looked into my eyes, that was it for me," he said. "She was a young lady too, she had a lot of living to do yet, and because of me, she can do it."

LaFerrara's story serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers our beaches can pose, even to experienced swimmers. Rip currents are responsible for numerous rescues and fatalities each year along the Jersey Shore. His quick thinking and decades-old training made the difference between tragedy and triumph on that October day.

As our community honors this local hero, his actions remind us that true heroism often comes from ordinary people who simply refuse to stand by when someone needs help. Frank LaFerrara saw someone in danger and didn't hesitate—and because of that split-second decision, a young woman gets to live the rest of her life.