It was a warm June evening on Long Island, and 17-year-old Anthony Zhongor sat quietly in his car, parked along a peaceful, dimly lit dock. The clock neared 10 PM, a time when the water lay perfectly still, reflecting the soft glow of moonlight, and the world seemed to hold its breath. But that tranquil silence shattered in an instant.

Without warning, another car suddenly veered off the dock’s edge and plunged into the dark water below. The sharp screech of tires skidding on wood was quickly swallowed by the violent splash that followed. Anthony’s heart raced as he sprang from his seat and ran to the dock’s edge, eyes wide with shock. The vehicle was already sinking, slowly disappearing beneath the surface, and inside, a desperate figure was pounding frantically on the window, trapped.

“She went pretty deep in there,” Anthony later recounted, his voice steady but filled with urgency. “She was hitting the door and trying to break the window, and that really made me nervous and scared for her.”

There was no time to hesitate. Without a second thought, Anthony tore off his clothes, dove into the cold, dark water, and swam fiercely toward the sinking car.

When he reached it, he quickly realized the situation was far more dire than he’d imagined. The pressure of the water made the doors impossible to open. The panic of the driver — an 18-year-old named Mia Samolinski — was palpable even through the glass. Thinking fast, Anthony devised a plan. He swam to the front of the car and pushed down on the nose with every ounce of strength he could muster, lifting the rear end above the water’s surface.

The tailgate clicked open, allowing water to rush inside. Seizing the moment, Mia scrambled free. Together, they fought the cold and the dark as they swam back toward shore, the weight of the water pressing heavily against them. But the moment they broke through the surface and touched solid ground, the air never felt sweeter.

“She just came up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, thank you,’ and was crying,” Anthony remembered. For him, the decision had been clear from the start. “It didn’t matter who it was; I couldn’t just stand by and watch someone suffer like that.”

Mia had accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, sending her car hurtling into the bay. By a remarkable stroke of fate, Anthony had been there to witness the accident. And by an even greater act of bravery, he had jumped into action.

The two shared more than just that terrifying night — though they hadn’t known each other before, they discovered they were classmates at the same high school. Anthony graduated just days later, carrying not only his diploma but the profound weight of a life saved. His courageous act became a defining moment in his young life, one that propelled him forward with a sense of purpose. Shortly afterward, he made the decision to join the Marines, ready to serve and protect others on a much larger scale.