(Spirit Lake)– Two lakes area Boy Scouts are being credited with saving the life of a fellow scout from Missouri during a wilderness survival event last week.
11-year-old J-R Byrnes and 12-year-old Jesse Stokke, both of Spirit Lake, belong to Boy Scout troop 152 of Okoboji. They and other scouts were camping on Medicine Mountain in the Black Hills one evening last week when Jesse says they heard cries of help from a fellow scout in a nearby tent. He says they discovered their comrade, who was from Missouri, suffering from hypothermia.
Using first aid techniques they had learned through scouting, the two boys were able to treat their fellow scout, then quickly hiked a short distance up the mountain to alert their leaders and get help. Officials credit the boys quick actions for saving the other boy’s life.
Stokke and Byrnes say they’ve become pen pals with the boy they helped.
They’ve been nominated for the National Boy Scout Heroism Award.
