Members of the MA National Guard found more than they expected during training on a NJ base earlier this week.
In a remote, wooded area, they came across a Cadillac with all the doors open. They found an unconscious elderly woman in the back seat, according to NJ.com.
"At first we didn't know what to think of it because it was suspicious," said Staff Sgt. Dana Francis of G Co. 186th Brigade Support Battalion.
"We were thinking the worst when we first started," said Sgt. Tommy Coppola said in a statement. Coppola eventually ran up to the car to find the woman waking up but confused.
Coppola and Francis, both civilian firefighters, brought two medics, Spec. John Shively and Pfc. Aaron Amardey-Wellington, to the scene to help assess the woman, who was waking up, but still confused, according to a statement.
The 87-year-old woman told the soldiers that her car got stuck Saturday morning in the soft sand in the woods off of Route 539.
She collected and drank rain water during her ordeal. Temperatures reached the upper 90s, and the heat index was about 100.
She suffered from extreme dehydration. But was in better condition when her family met her at the base.
"It was by chance that the contact team was traveling down this remote tank trail and came across the elderly woman," Lt. Col. Holloway said.
