Max Elenbaas, now 61 and retired, was fishing from a boat in the mid-1970s when he bent over and accidentally dropped the badge into the water.

"You lose something in Lake Michigan a mile and a half, two miles out, it's not going to come back to you - there's no way," Elenbaas said.

The tourist found it on a beach about two weeks ago and turned it in to the sheriff's office. Deputies went to Elenbaas' home to return it.

The badge is rusty and the case's clear plastic window for the ID card has turned blue, but "it's in very good shape," Elenbaas said.

"They drove up, he handed it to me and even when I had it in my hand, I looked at it and says, 'Yeah, I can't believe this,'" he said.