Harrison Ford To The Rescue
Indiana Jones did it again.
For the second time in a year, actor Harrison Ford guided his helicopter into the backcountry for a rescue, this time for a missing Boy Scout in a forest just south of Yellowstone National Park.
Ford, a part-time Jackson resident who offers his flying acumen and helicopter for rescue missions, joined a search for a missing Utah Boy Scout who had wandered off a trail Monday and spent a night shivering as rain pelted the area, said the Teton County Sheriff's Office in Wyoming.
After two hours of flying, Ford and another searcher spotted 13-year-old Cody Clawson, clad in a T-shirt, shorts and sandals, about 10 miles from a Boy Scout camp at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. He landed nearby to whisk the soggy, cold, tired and hungry scout to safety.
"Boy, you sure must have earned a merit badge for this one," Ford said.
"I already earned this badge last summer," Clawson replied.
Clawson survived the rainy night by taking cover under a rock outcropping. He planned to resume the scout trip, which is scheduled to end Saturday, said his mother, Peggy Clawson.
"Cody said the kids asked if he got an autograph and he said, 'No, but I got a hug and a handshake, and that's better than an autograph,'" she said.
Last July, Ford plucked an Idaho Falls, Idaho, hiker off 11,106-foot Table Mountain in Teton County. Megan Freeman climbed the mountain, but altitude sickness and dehydration left her sick and unable to climb down. Ford picked her up and flew her to a Driggs, Idaho, hospital.
Clawson was separated from the rest of Troop 241 from Huntsville, Utah, while carrying supplies from a vehicle to a campsite in Loll Boy Scout Camp, which is located in Targhee National Forest about a mile south of the Yellowstone National Park boundary and about 40 miles north of Jackson.
He was reported missing around 2 p.m., Monday, and searchers looked for four hours before calling authorities in Fremont County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming.
They resumed the search at 6 a.m., Tuesday, including a Wyoming Air Patrol plane and Ford's helicopter.
Ford, one of Hollywood's most-bankable stars, played Indiana Jones in the series of movies that began with "Raiders Of The Lost Ark," Han Solo in the first three "Star Wars" movies, and Jack Ryan in several films based on Tom Clancy novels.
He will celebrate his 59th birthday on Friday. He has an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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