The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Seaman Rubin G. Binder, United States Navy, for heroism on 9 January 1967, while serving with River Patrol Section 531 and friendly foreign forces on the Mekong River in South Vietnam. Seaman Binder was the forward .50-caliber machine gunner on Patrol Boat River ONE HUNDRED FIVE (PBR-105), on combat patrol near My Tho when the dredge JAMAICA BAY was mined. PBR-105 closed the rapidly sinking barge and pulled five survivors from the water. In doing so, crewmembers heard a metallic tapping from inside the hull of the barge. In company with his boat captain, Seaman Binder plunged into the dark, debris-clogged river and helped guide the man to a hatch 60 feet away and four feet under water. It took repeated dives by Seaman Binder to learn that the hatch was blocked by two firmly-wedged pipes. By this time, little air remained in the heavily listing dredge. Seaman Binder dived again to bend a line around the pipes so that a tug could pull them free. Physically forcing the jammed and warped hatch open, Seaman Binder and his boat captain swam through the hatch, located the man, and pulled him back through the hatch to the surface.