The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Rear Admiral Lorenzo Sherwood Sabin (NSN: 0-57170), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility, while serving as Commanding Officer Task Force NINETY during Operation PASSAGE TO FREEDOM from 8 August 1954 to 11 April 1955. Rear Admiral Sabin displayed an outstanding degree of initiative, courage, and professional skill in handling the many problems involved in logistic support of his ships in a remote area, as well as the many problems of the refugees in embarkation and debarkation, berthing and feeding, disease control, births and deaths, religion, and of language barrier involved in the mass evacuation of over 260,000 displaced Vietnamese persons. His personal leadership and humanitarian understanding were an inspiration to his subordinates who carried out their duties with great compassion toward the displaced humanity assigned to their care. Rear Admiral Sabin brilliantly and aggressively directed the amphibious forces under his command with the result that in addition to the large number of refugees handled, over 7,600 vehicles and 66,000 tons of cargo were lifted in an expeditious manner with a minimum loss of time to the ships involved. Rear Admiral Sabin’s actions throughout have demonstrated his unquestionable professional ability and reflect the utmost credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Second Gold Star in lieu of a Third Award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Rear Admiral Lorenzo Sherwood Sabin (NSN: 0-57170), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) from November 1957 to March 1961. An outstanding leader and diplomat, Vice Admiral Sabin exercised marked professional skill and resourcefulness in carrying out his many responsibilities throughout this period. Cognizant of the potential major threat of enemy submarines in the Allied Command Atlantic Area, he sponsored the creation of the Submarine and Antisubmarine Warfare Section within SACLANT. Through his tact and diplomacy in gaining multilateral coopering within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the field of anti-submarine research, a number of organizational problems were solved, thus expediting the activation of the SACLANT Anti-submarine Warfare Research Center, La Spezia, Italy. In the field of military planning, his ability to organize realistic exercises, and to interpret and adapt the knowledge gained there from, has led to constant improvement of operational plans, and has furthered the overall combat readiness of NATO naval forces. Fully utilizing his wide and diversified professional background in furthering SACLANT-NATO public relations, Vice Admiral Sabin, by his strong leadership and dedication to the principles of peace through strength and international cooperation, has made a vital contribution to the solidarity of the NATO and to the security of the United States. His distinguished achievements reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Services.