The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Ensign Wheeler M. Braswell, United States Coast Guard, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy. At about 1210 on 24 September 1943, a member of the beaching crew of the Coast Guard Air Station, Miami, Florida, observed a Pan American Airways seaplane crash in the waters of Biscay Bay. The crash alarm was immediately sounded and all available equipment rushed to the scene. Ensign Braswell took off at once in the ready plane and arrived at the scene prior to the crash boats. On landing near the crashed plane, Ensign Braswell sighted one of the crew on the plane’s wing and realized that the rest of the crew must be trapped in the plane under the surface of the water. Ensign Braswell immediately stopped his engine and ordering his radioman to anchor the plane, dove into the bay and swam to the Pan American plane. Disregarding the fire hazard from gasoline on the water, the crushed and jagged metal of the plane’s hull, he entered the submerged pilot’s compartment and brought the pilot to the surface. With the aid of Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Steven Kluznic, USM, who arrived in the Pan American crash boat, Ensign Braswell moved the pilot to the wings of the plane and administered artificial respiration until the patient commenced to breath normally. Ensign Braswell then directed a boat to return ashore with the pilot for medical attention, and he and Kluznic re-entered the submerged plane to remove the third and last member of its crew from the passenger compartment. This man and the crew member on the wing were given artificial respiration by Ensign Braswell and Kluznic. One of the men began breathing naturally, but the other failed to respond. Both were taken ashore for further medical treatment. In going to the rescue of the crew of the crashed plane, Ensign Braswell disregarded his own safety as the gasoline on the water was a serious fire hazard and the jagged metal and broken glass of the crashed plane were a constant menace to rescue operations. Ensign Braswell’s rapid response to the alarm, his skill in handling his aircraft to arrive prior to the crash boats, his disregard for his own safety and his cool judgment in keeping the appraisal of the situation are deemed to be in keeping with the highest traditions of the Service. The survival of two of the PAA plane’s crew now seems assured, and there is little doubt that the actions of Ensign Braswell and Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Kluznic are responsible for commendation and suitable award.