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New Jersey Boy Scouts Rescue NBC Journalist Ann Curry

Scott Greer Contributor
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In a scene that might’ve come out of a movie script, a troop of Boy Scouts hiking in a New York park turned out to be unlikely heroes for one well-known journalist in distress — Ann Curry.

On April 5, Curry had been hiking in Harriman State Park in New York when she broke her leg at a trail intersection. She was lying on the ground resting her injured limb when all of a sudden, a group of boy scouts from Berkeley Heights, N.J., on a training hike came upon her.

The Scouts, not knowing who she was at the time, offered to help her but Curry initially refused. Luckily for the Emmy-award winning journalist, these young Samaritans wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“We were hiking along, and we came to a trail intersection,” Scouter Rick Jurgens told Scouting Magazine Friday, “and a lady was sitting on the ground with her one leg out. We didn’t think anything of it, but one of the guys asked if everything is OK. She said, ‘No, not really. I think I broke my ankle.’ She told us to keep going, but the guys refused.”

Without any prompting, the scouts sprang into action and used their first-aid training to splint Curry’s leg. Jurgens proudly called his scouts splinting “textbook.”

But Curry wasn’t out of the woods just yet, as it appeared that the TV personality was not going to be able to walk off the trail with her broken ankle, even with the help of her young heroes. That didn’t prevent the scouts from coming up with a solution of their own and quickly assembling a makeshift-stretcher to carry Curry on.

The scouts managed to get Curry off the trail and get her to her family to drive her to a hospital. Her husband was extremely grateful for the actions of the teens.

After safely delivering Curry to her family, Forest Rangers arrived to inquire “Is there somebody up there who needs rescuing?” Jurgens responded that it had already been taken care of.

Curry later wrote a personalized letter to every member of the troop who was there, to thank them for rescuing her. “Your skill and professionalism were a great comfort to me,” Curry’s letter read. “I was in great pain, but you carried me over the sharp rocks and into the car that took me to the hospital.”

“I feel enormously lucky you came along at just the right moment, and were so willing to help a stranger in need,” she continued. “You are a credit to the Boy Scouts and to your families, and I want you to know I am deeply grateful for your kindness and skill.”

The injury that Curry sustained was fairly severe and doctors estimated that it would take at least 10 weeks to fully heal.

Jurgens was also incredibly proud of the work of his troop, especially considering they had no idea they were helping out somebody so famous.

“No matter who that was, we would’ve done the same exact thing,” the scout leader beamed. “The guys didn’t know this was a special person at first and treated her with the most dignified respect. It was all on the guys.”

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