ORLANDO, Fla. -- (AP) -- A 6-year-old boy was presented a medal and proclaimed a hero for saving a 9-year-old girl from drowning in a pool in May.

Charles Winters was presented a Medal of Merit by Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, as Gov. Jeb Bush, a group of legislators and several hundred law enforcement officials applauded Thursday.

Charles, who learned to swim only a year ago, saved the neighborhood girl after he saw her at the bottom of the pool at the apartment complex where he lives.

Charles said he dove in, grabbed the girl's hand and began dragging her toward the top, but ``she slipped away and I pulled her up again to the edge.''

He said the girl's mother, who had stepped into a nearby apartment, came running and pulled her daughter onto the pool deck. Another child called 911.

Neither the child who was rescued nor her family attended the awards ceremony. Jauhnisha Cox, Charles' mother, said the girl recovered fully from the incident.