State of the Union: Who were Trump's invited guests for address to Congress?

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a survivor of both the Holocaust and a mass shooting, and a bullied schoolboy among those in attendance to hear speech

Donald Trump has finally delivered his second State of the Union address to Congress following a week's delay enforced by the government shutdown.

In a wide-ranging speech from the floor of the House of Representatives, the president preached American exceptionalism, rallied his conservative support base and again stressed his concerns about the immigration crisis on the southern border and the need for a wall to bolster national security.

In attendance were a number of special guests invited by President Trump, chosen because they embody issues at the centre of the national debate.

Here's a complete list of the president's VIPs with a front row seat.

Buzz Aldrin

The most famous guest in the chamber was the Apollo 11 astronaut, 89, the second man to set foot on the surface of the moon. Invited to mark the 50th anniversary of a landmark achievement for humanity, he was given a standing ovation, saluting the president in a stars-and-stripes tie.

“This year, American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets,” Mr Trump promised.

Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong and Madison Armstrong

The daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Gerald and Sharon David, an elderly couple from Reno, Nevada, who were murdered in their home last month. A 19-year-old undocumented migrant understood to have worked for them as a landscape gardener has been charged with their killing.

The president tweeted about the crime and the grieving family's invitation was one of his most nakedly political statements, the tragedy touted as further evidence supporting the need for his much-discussed Mexico border wall.

Matthew Charles

One of the first people to be released from prison under the First Step Act, signed into law in December 2018, Mr Charles was in attendance to be hailed as a glowing example of reform and to serve as poster boy for one of the Trump administration's proudest legislative achievements.

Mr Charles had been sentenced to 35 years in jail in 1996 for selling crack cocaine in Tennessee but has since undergone a number of rehabilitation programmes in jail, found God, worked as a law clerk and acted as a mentor to his fellow inmates.

Grace Eline

A 10-year-old brain cancer survivor and hospital fundraiser from New Jersey, Grace sat beside the first lady, Melania Trump, as the president addressed medical breakthroughs and pledged to conquer cancer and HIV/AIDS.

First lady Melania Trump applauds with cancer survivor Grace Eline as she is mentioned by US president Donald Trump in his second State of the Union address (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

She stood up and was given a resounding round of applause from both sides of the House when Mr Trump recounted her story.

Ashley Evans

Ms Evans is a young mother from Ohio celebrating a year and one month's sobriety from opioid addiction, a crisis in American healthcare too often overlooked.

When she relapsed during pregnancy two years ago, she was nursed back to health by the Brigid's Path medical facility in the town of Kettering in her home state.

Elvin Hernandez

A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security involved in investigating gangs and people trafficking on the southern border for more than 18 years, the reason for Mr Hernandez's presence was much like that of Ms Bissell and the Armstrongs, to highlight the dangers of an insecure border.

Roy James

Mr James was about to lose his job as plant manager at Vicksburg Forest Products, a lumber mill in Mississippi, after more than 20 years when the facility was poised to be closed down.

Roy James, special guest of President Trump, attends the State of the Union address (Alex Wong/Getty)

But he and his colleagues were reprieved when investors were found and empowered to buy the mill thanks to a special provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, introduced under President Trump in 2017. The law was criticised as a tax break for the richest Americans.

Mr James was therefore chosen to represent Mr Trump's message that the US economy is working.

Alice Johnson

A great-grandmother who was handed a lifetime prison sentence in 1996 for non-violent drug offences relating to her role in the running of a cocaine-trafficking business out of Memphis, Tennessee, Ms Johnson was granted clemency in June 2018 after Kim Kardashian-West visited the White House to plead her case.

Judah Samet and Timothy Matson

Mr Samet is an 81-year-old survivor of the Holocaust and a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on 27 October 2018. Eleven people were killed in the latter incident and seven injured, the deadliest attack against the Jewish community ever committed on US soil.

Holocaust survivor Judah Samet listens as the chamber sings "Happy Birthday" to him as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address (Andrew Harnik/AP)

The president invited Mr Samet, he told his local newspaper The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “because I represented two of the biggest tragedies for the Jewish people in the last hundred years”.

Mr Trump duly introduced him to the chamber with a vow to confront “the vile poison of antisemitism... anywhere and everywhere it occurs”.

The day of the address happened to be Mr Samet’s birthday and the whole House joined in to sing to him, with Mr Trump playing conductor in a moment of genuine unity. “They would not do that for me,” he quipped.

Timothy Matson, also invited, is a police SWAT team member and first responder to the Tree of Life massacre, who was himself shot at at least six times by the gunman.

Joshua Trump

An 11-year-old schoolboy from Wilmington, Delaware, who has suffered bullying because of his surname, Joshua was invited by the president in support of the first lady’s “Be Best” anti-bullying initiative.

Joshua Trump was pictured asleep during his namesake's State of the Union address (Alex Wong/Getty) (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

He immediately endeared himself to a nation and sparked a thousand memes by dozing off in his seat.

Tom Wibberley

Mr Wibberley is the father of US Navy seaman Craig Wibberley, one of 17 people killed when the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda attacked the USS Cole in 2000.

His invitation followed the killing of one of the attackers, Jamal al-Badawi, in an airstrike in Yemen.