A Boy Who Saved 17 Lives Gets a Big Surprise

He's very warm-hearted. He'll help anyone. He's a guy that saves people. Really came through for his friends. I wasn't strong enough to go out there. We're going to surprise Virgil with a standing ovation to celebrate his kindness. The disaster in Dickinson, Texas started under the cover of darkness. No one was prepared. You couldn't see anything. It was bad. You could hear screams. The helicopters were flying over us, but they were going to other areas. We couldn't get no help. As rain submerged the city, a surprising hero emerged in a disaster. What a story this is, this 13-year-old. I can't believe it myself. I can't believe it, but he did it. He did it. This was our resident. The water was about this high. Swimmed all the way here to this apartment. Upstairs, 102. Then Virgil phoned wrong. And that's when his friend said he needed help. There was water coming in through the door. The water started getting higher. So we went outside to go see if we could see something. Then we saw BJ swimming around. They say they can't swim. I have to help them. I have eye matches. And he said, I'm going to swim back. I didn't want nothing to happen to him. Everything underwater, so I know it was snakes, alligators. He went behind this building where his friend called him. And brought them back. They was all drying off. Virgil was standing up there. And we heard screams. And Virgil said, I hear someone screaming. And it was this lady over here in the wheelchair. So Virgil came down, swam with the eye mattress. Burst a window right there. Got the lady out. And then his mother thought about a little cute little dog she had. And she wanted her dog too. So Virgil put the dog on the eye mattress too. After the last person, they brought the eye mattress back, it burst. And that was it. You know, I don't think a lot of the kids know that it was him. He didn't go around bragging to people. We didn't even know it. He came into school and continued to be the person he is. Virgil is a shy person. When I go around telling the people the story, he hates it. He don't even like to talk about it. He's shy. He more or less like took charge. And so I thought he was very courageous for that. Who knows Virgil? Who knows what he did recently? In Hurricane Harvey? Yeah. I do. What did he do? He saved like 17 kids or something like that on an air mattress. I saw it on the news. You saw the news? Yes, I did. If someone does something like that, we should probably do something for them. Don't you think? Yes, sir. The plan today is to celebrate him and give him a standing ovation. He has no idea. He did something that not very many people can do. He went out at 2 o'clock in the morning on an air mattress and saved 17 people. He did a good thing to help people. Everybody just started looking at me and I just seen cameras all around my face. I feel pretty good. Everybody clapping for me. I feel pretty good. Virgil has something in him that is great to do what he did, the courage. And to me that's all he needs to make it in this life. We are so proud of you and your act of kindness that we told the producers of the movie Wonder all about you. The film Wonder is about choosing kindness and that is exactly what you did. It was truly heroic because at that moment I don't even think that he thought that he was sacrificing his own life to save somebody else. In honor of your act of kindness, they wanted us to present you with a scholarship to help with school and they're also making a donation to the Harvey relief efforts in your name. I can't believe it. I'm proud of him for doing that. I look at him as a hero because he saved me. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are, where you come from, you can do great things. You can do great things. Virgil, I'm glad that you saved me and my family and I want to let you know that I love you. Bye.