Unsung heroes of 2025: First responders and everyday Americans who saved lives across US

In a year marked by disaster and devastation, it was quiet bravery, from Coast Guard rescue swimmers to local firefighters, emergency crews and everyday citizens, that turned moments of crisis into stories of survival.

On July 4, 2025, catastrophic flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, devastated Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp that had been operating for nearly a century.

Dick Eastland, the longtime director and co-owner of Camp Mystic, died while...