WESTBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - An elderly man who was rescued from a swamp in Westborough Thursday was tracking one of his pet falcons when he fell through the ice.
Now, just 24 hours after the painstaking rescue, falconer Bill Johnston is back at it and in good spirits.
“The good Lord looks after the young kids and old fools I guess,” Johnston laughed.
Johnston was tracking one of his falcons around Cedar Swamp using a GPS and radio tracker when the trouble began.
“I was probably within 50 feet of her and the ice broke and suddenly I had about 150 pounds of wet clothes on me,” he recalled. “It’s amazing when hypothermia starts to set in, you lose all your strength I just couldn’t lift my feet.”
Cold and stuck, Johnston was still able to call for help.
“I had the phone in the top pocket have a coat that I will never wear again and I had one percent left — one percent and I said the wisest thing for this 1 percent is 911.”
Rescue crews responding to the call donned cold survival suits and began fighting their way through the mud and brush.
Eventually, after calling out for him several times, they were able to locate Johnston several hours later and drag him to safety.
“A couple of them tried to hug me to warm me up but these guys just magnificent I just can’t say well they saved my life so what more can I say.”
Johnston said he is thankful to be in good health but that he is still on the hunt for his beloved bird Fiona — a 14-year-old White Arctic Falcon.
He is packing a lure for when Fiona is ready to come home, but, until then he said he has learned his lesson about walking on thin ice.
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