Coast Guard Academy honours pilot for heroism in 1986 rescue

NEW LONDON, Conn. – A Coast Guard Academy graduate who won praise for the 1986 rescue of two people from a plane crash in a lake has been inducted into the service academy’s Hall of Heroes.

Mark Feldman piloted a helicopter that pulled the two victims from Lake St. Clair in Ontario, Canada, after their plane crashed in a snow storm. He then performed CPR on one of the victims as his co-pilot flew to a hospital.

Feldman was a member of the academy’s class of 1979 and captain of the football team. He retired from the service as a lieutenant commander. He was recognized in a ceremony at the academy in New London on Wednesday.

He previously received the Air Medal for the rescue that took place on Nov. 11, 1986.