Vt. National Guard soldier rescues young boy who fell through ice

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - A Vermont National Guard soldier is being called a hero following the Christmas morning rescue of a family member.

“It was family, so it was really an adrenaline-inducing situation, but I felt, we have a big rule that ‘your emergency is not my emergency’ and we were able to kind of step back and take a little bit bigger view of what was going on and try to limit the amount of people that were going to get hurt,” said Staff Sgt. John Hampson.

Hampson with the Vermont National Guard was visiting family in Maine for the holiday.

A young member of his family was out using his new metal detector when he wandered out onto some ice and fell through.

The family tried to rescue the boy and two more people got stuck, that’s when Hampson gathered some rope and a toy boat, and pulled the young boy to safety.

The National Guard says this is a good reminder that no ice is safe ice and to always be prepared.

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