Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Soldier’s Medal

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Captain (Medical Corps), [then First Lieutenant]

    Action Date:

    May 6, 1963

    Department of the Army, General Orders No. 49 (November 22, 1963)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Captain (Medical Corps), [then First Lieutenant] Richard D. Haskell, United States Army, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy at the United States Army Tripler General Hospital, in Hawaii on 6 May 1963. When Captain Haskell learned that a female patient was observed sitting on the edge of a narrow ledge of abutting a patio on the ninth floor of the hospital, he rushed to the scene to render assistance. He quickly assessed the hazardous situation and determined that the depressed, hysterical patient intended to leap to the ground, over one hundred feet below. With ingenuity and speed, he requested the trouser belts of the men in the vicinity, assembled them into a safety belt, and attached it to the rear of his own belt. Then, with complete disregard for his own personal safety, and only the protection of a makeshift safety belt, he unhesitatingly jumped onto the ledge and returned the despondent patient to safety. Captain Haskell’s heroic action in this emergency is in the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflects great credit upon himself in the military service.