The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Lieutenant Lawrence C. Day, United States Navy, for heroism following an emergency landing of his aircraft at the Naval Air Station, Argentia, Newfoundland, near midnight on 2 April 1959. Immediately after landing, the aircraft began to disintegrate and came to rest in an inverted position as intense fires broke out. With the pilot’s window as the only means of escape for members of the crew forward of the galley, Lieutenant Day, as Pilot Plane Commander, crawled through this window and then assisted two other crew members in escaping. Although forced to leave the vicinity of the pilot’s window because of the intense heat, Lieutenant Day returned to assist three more men from the flaming aircraft before he was forced once again to retreat from the searing heat, moments before the entire aircraft exploded.