Polish immigrant receives National Park award for saving lives at Platte Point

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

Park rangers at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore often refer to Lake Michigan as “the boss.” She’s calm and soothing on some days and deceptive and deadly on others.

Rangers keep a close eye on the weather and which direction the winds are blowing, but on busy July days when tens of thousands visit the National Lakeshore, there’s no way Sleeping Bear’s mighty team of eight law enforcement rangers can monitor and protect all beachgoers along 35 miles of shoreline.

Sometimes private citizens make decisions that save lives. Enter Marcin Arszylo, who on July 19, 2024, saved the lives of a family that drifted a mile into Lake Michigan near the mouth of the Platte River. They floated in inflatable tubes but were not wearing life jackets.

Arszylo took his son’s styrofoam boogie board and first swam toward an 11-year-old child who had jumped off his tube in an attempt to reach shore. Then he helped the child’s grandfather who had entered the water. When rangers arrived, Arszylo joined and helped guide the rescue boat to locate the grandmother and granddaughter, who were swept a mile into open Lake Michigan and were not visible from the shoreline.

A Polish immigrant and engineer at General Motors who moved to the Detroit area 20 years ago, Arszylo was honored with the Citizen’s Award for Bravery at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore headquarters in Empire on July 18—one day shy of the one-year anniversary of his heroic act.

Sleeping Bear Dunes superintendent Scott Tucker became emotional while presenting Arszylo with the award.

“It is amazing the choices people make that will be life altering for perfect strangers,” said Tucker, his voice choking up.

“As a father, whenever my kids set foot in Lake Michigan, that’s where my eyes are locked. I’m guessing, with your reaction that day, you did exactly the same thing. You made a choice that has impacted every employee in this room. Myself, as the leader of this amazing national resource, and as a father.”

Watch this video below of Tucker’s remarks and of Arszylo receiving the Citizen’s Award for Bravery earlier this month.