WHEELING, Ill. (AP) — A nine-year-old Illinois boy has reconnected with the Coast Guard helicopter crew who rescued him earlier this month from Lake Michigan.
Tommy Alter of Highland Park on Tuesday said thank you to the crew that rescued him from the lake near Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. The boy, his mother, Leslie, and other family members met the crew at Wheeling’s Chicago Executive Airport.
Coast Guard officials say Tommy, his aunt and a cousin had gone out on Lake Michigan in rented kayaks July 11, but did not return as expected.
After an all-night search, officials say a crew from the Royal Canadian Air Force located Alter and his family around 6 a.m. the next day about 10 miles offshore. The Coast Guard crew took them to Menominee, Michigan.
