The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Timothy W. Eason, United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as aircraft commander on a Coast Guard HH-65B helicopter, CGNR 6513, operating from the cutter ALEX HALEY on 8 December 2004. Undaunted by howling 45-knot arctic gales and 30-foot seas that caused the cutter’s deck to pitch and roll well beyond safe launch limits, CGNR 6513 made a daring takeoff to provide backup for another Coast Guard helicopter dispatched to evacuate eight mariners from the recently grounded M/V SELENDANG AYU near Unalaska Island. As the HH-60J was hoisting a crewman from the 738-foot freighter, CGNR 6513 watched in awe as a huge wave struck the vessel and shot skyward, engulfing CGNR 6020 and causing it to plunge into the frigid sea. Lieutenant Eason quickly directed his crew to conn CGNR 6513 into position and began hoisting the dazed survivors as they egressed from the sinking wreckage and struggled in the rough seas. With darkness setting in, he fought to maneuver CGNR 6513 in the turbulent blizzard conditions, hoisting three oil soaked Coastguardsmen in timely succession and literally scooping the limp body of one unresponsive mariner out of the surf with the rescue basket. After a turbulent flight to Dutch Harbor to refuel and offload survivors, Lieutenant Eason hastened his crew to make the grueling return trip to search for more survivors and rescue the last two persons still stranded and imperiled on the freighter that had now broken into two storm-swept hulks. In total darkness and blinding snow, he struggled to hover 200 feet above the thrashing sea without any visual references, and after 45 minutes in bone-jarring turbulence and perilous conditions completed the two arduous hoists. Lieutenant Eason’s actions, aeronautical skill, and valor were instrumental in the rescue of six survivors. His courage, judgment, and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.