One earned his badge in 1974, with a son well on his way to doing the same now; the other is the 2-millionth to do so.

Three Lakeville residents with Eagle Scout connections were recently honored for different reasons. Harlan "Hap" Stokes of Lakeville, 48, and his 17-year-old son, Charlie, were recently awarded National Medals of Merit for their lifesaving efforts on a Colorado mountain peak last summer. Sixteen-year-old Anthony Thomas of Lakeville recently became the 2 millionth Eagle Scout.

When the bolt of lightning crashed down to the mountainside, Hap Stokes turned his head to look for his son, Charlie. There was no one in sight - only a large footprint left in the hail to mark where his son had been.

"I turned around, and Charlie was gone - he was just gone," Hap said. "In my imagination, he's been struck by lightning and fallen off the cliff, and I can't see his body."

The Stokes' Aug. 6, 2008, trip up Longs Peak in Colorado had started promisingly enough. Hap became an Eagle Scout nearly 35 years ago, and Charlie, a Lakeville North High senior and member of Troop 268 from Messiah Lutheran Church, is finishing the paperwork to become one. After a two-week trip with Troop 268 at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M, the pair stayed behind to tackle a Colorado landmark that had stuck in Hap's craw for a number of years.

"When I was 15, we did a family hike up Longs Peak, and we made it as far as a certain feature on the mountain called 'The Keyhole,' which is a natural place to turn back," Hap said. "We made it that far, and everybody in my family at that point had altitude sickness, and it was too late in the day to go on. We had to turn back, and that bothered me a little bit. What bothered me a lot was that my parents went back, just a few years later, just themselves, and finished the mountain. I can't let that stand."

Hap realized there would never be a better chance to reach the peak: He was acclimated, in shape, and best of all, he had his hiking buddy (Charlie) with him.

Going up the 14,000-foot peak, the pair carried everything on their backs, and several months of training leading up to their trip to New Mexico served them well. Thunderstorms hit the mountains every day, and Hap planned to hit the peak early so as to avoid one. Starting out in the 3 a.m. darkness, the father and son were at the Keyhole by mid-morning.

"We were told that the storms had been coming in at 3 p.m." Hap said. "We'd climbed in the dark, and were well above the tree line by the time the sun was up. We were at the Keyhole by 9:30 a.m., and off the peak by 11:30 a.m."

Once they reached the top, Hap noticed a dark wall of clouds racing toward the mountain. The thunderstorm had come early.

Knowing they had to get down as soon as possible, Hap didn't even take time to enjoy the view. Still, he accomplished what he set out to do: he spread some of his father Kenneth's ashes on the peak. Longs Peak was an important place to Kenneth - but with a thunderstorm charging in, it was important to leave.

"We basically started out right after that," Charlie said. "We couldn't stay, so we started booking it down as fast as we could go. We started running into people that were still trying to go up, and we were turning them around. It was like, 'Sorry, you're not going up there.'"

The storm hit right before they got to the Keyhole. The hail lashed the pair as they clung to the sides of boulders in a vain attempt to find cover. A rain fly from a tent provided them some shelter - but the Stokes' weren't under the thunderstorm, they were in the thunderstorm.

"We couldn't see anything," Hap said. "We'd been gathering up people. It was raining very hard, and very cold. Pretty soon, the flashes and booms of the lightning were happening at the same time. We were in the storm."

Other people on the mountain were not as prepared, Hap said, and did not have rain gear or proper clothing. One man, who Hap said ran up mountains as a hobby, was wearing a pair of running shorts. Soon, five other people were with them hunkered down under the rain fly. As the lightning intensified, and the rain pounded down, Hap began to pray.

"In a situation like that, you are supposed to see your life flashing before your eyes," Hap said. "[I saw] Charlie's life, not mine. It wasn't supposed to be him that was going to die. It wasn't fair."

At this point, Charlie made the decision to move on. Hap turned to gather those by the rain fly and move out. After the lightning bolt hit, Charlie was no longer in sight. Hap had to make an agonizing decision: leave with those who needed help, or look for his son. Charlie said leaving with the living was the right decision for his father to make.

"Even if I had fallen, how would he have gotten to me?" Charlie said. "He wouldn't have. He did the right thing. No question."

As it turned out, Charlie ended up in an emergency shelter on the side of the mountain.

When the pair re-united at the emergency shelter, Hap kissed Charlie on the head, hit him on the shoulder, and said, 'Do you have any idea what you just put me through?' During the next few hours, their Scout training kicked in, and they administered first aid to four people suffering from hypothermia and assisted 17 others by sharing food, water and warm clothing. By this point, Hap was starting to suffer the effects of hypothermia, and Charlie took over.

"In that moment, I saw my boy become a man," Hap said. "Right before my very eyes. I guess parents don't get to see it that way, that dramatically. This was a boy before, and now he's a man. I'm blessed to have that experience. He saved my life."

In all, 23 people were trapped on the mountain peak that day - but thanks to the Stokes' efforts, all of them lived to climb another day. For his part, Hap isn't in a hurry to climb any mountains anytime soon. He compares it to the pain of childbirth.

"Women have children, and they forget about the pain, and they have a second child," he said. "Maybe that's what it is for me."

Their experience on Longs Peak is an extreme case of how their Scouting experience has benefited both of them and others. Both said it has shaped their lives.

"The Boy Scout program dares you to do things that are bigger and less constrained, to take risks that are measured, calculated risks," Hap said. "They say, 'Life is a game with a purpose.' I always look back at the places that I've seen through Scouting, and I never regret any of it. You learn how to live with and trust other people. We aren't living by ourselves in society, and kids shouldn't feel that way."

"It helps teach you how to count on people, Charlie said, "and at the same time, it teaches you how to be counted on."

The list is 2 million names long: Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Stewart, Walter Cronkite - and Anthony Thomas.

Anthony, a 16-year-old Lakeville resident and Academy of Holy Angels junior, was recently named the 2 millionth Eagle Scout. To recognize his place in Scout history, Anthony assisted the Northern Star Council during the June 17 groundbreaking for a 27,000 square-foot "Base Camp" project that will transform a historic Fort Snelling building into an urban Scouting camp.

Anthony started in Scouts when he was 7 years old. The Sun Current first interviewed him in 2007, when he was completing his Eagle project. As a member of Burnsville's Troop 471, he made 20 handicapped door-training devices that went to Helping Paws, a nonprofit dog training organization in Hopkins. The training devices featured a metal handicapped door button mounted on a wooden board.

"I found out that I was the 2-millionth Scout in May, two days before my court of honor," he said. "That's where you are presented with your badge. It's an initiation. It's an honor and a privilege [to be part of this program]. It's great to be part of an exclusive club, who've worked toward their Eagle and done great things."

When he first started Scouting, Anthony said he did not recognize the significance of the Eagle Scout rank. But as he grew, and saw older boys getting their Eagle badges, he knew he wanted one. Now that he's an Eagle Scout, he can keep attending meetings, and said it is possible to keep earning awards of merit in the form of "palms," awarded for every five merit badges an Eagle attains. Some of Anthony's duties are different from a typical Eagle Scout. In addition to serving as a youth ambassador at national activities, he'll serve as a role model for younger Scouts.

"It's about being an example to other Scouts, and inspiring them," he said. "It's about getting Scouting out there, and letting people know how much fun it can be. Next year, as part of the "Report to the Nation,' I'll fly down to Washington, D.C., and meet the president."

"We're very proud of him," said Jim Thomas, Anthony's father. "When we found out he was the 2 millionth Eagle, it was like winning the lottery without knowing you bought a ticket. He'll get chances to see and do things very few people ever get. This is a big opportunity to stand up, and try to make a difference. It's an opportunity to give back, and pay it forward."

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