The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Lieutenant Joseph D. Cummings, United States Navy, for heroic conduct on 20 December 1963 while serving with Commander Fleet Activities, Ryukyus, as Officer in Charge of Port Services, Okinawa. Upon being informed that a sailor, apparently deranged and armed with a loaded pistol, had menaced a group of other Navy men and had threatened to kill if necessary, Lieutenant Cummings immediately went to the scene of the incident where he found several men backed against the outside of the Port Services office in fear of their lives. Although unarmed, he walked boldly toward the seaman and, in the face of death threats, a pointed pistol, and an attempted discharge of the weapon by the sailor, succeeded in disarming the man, thereby preventing possible serious injury or death to those who witnessed this event.