VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (CBS) — A Mt. Prospect man saved the life of his young grandson but couldn’t save himself during a vacation in Virginia.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, Steven L. Henry, 56, was visiting a daughter in Virginia Beach for the Father’s Day weekend. He and his 8-year-old grandson were out along the shore in Virginia Beach on Saturday, when a strong wave pulled the boy into the water, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Henry, who had been a lifeguard in his younger days, went into the water after the boy and rescued him, the Tribune reports. But Henry could not escape the water himself.

A lifeguard pulled Henry’s lifeless body out of the water, and he was pronounced dead a short time later at a local hospital, the Tribune reported.

The beach where Henry and his grandson were walking was under a “red flag day” warning, which means the weather could be dangerous to anyone entering the ocean, Virginia Beach police told the Tribune.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports