Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Coast Guard Medal

    Service:

    United States Coast Guard

    Rank:

    Seaman

    Action Date:

    January 28, 1980

    U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Coast Guard Medal to Seaman Michael D. Gray, United States Coast Guard, for heroism on the evening of 28 January 1980 when he attempted to save two of his shipmates following the collision between U.S.C.G.C. BLACKTHORN and SS CAPRICORN in Tampa Bay, Florida. Shortly after the collision, U.S.C.G.C. BLACKTHORN commenced a roll to port and then capsized, thereby precluding a bridge command to prepare for and to execute an orderly abandon ship. During this period, Seaman Apprentice GRAY was on the mess deck with a large number of the U.S.C.G.C. BLACKTHORN crew. As BLACKTHORN reached an inverted position and the mess deck flooded to within a few inches of the deck, Seaman Apprentice Gray saw one of the crewmembers climb though the engine room escape scuttle, located aft on the mess deck, which was now overhead. That crewmember located a flashlight and, shining it back down through scuttle into the darkened mess deck, shouted that he had found a way to escape, causing the remaining survivors to all rush toward the scuttle. Despite the fact that the delay could have cost him his life, Seaman Apprentice Gray, realizing that those men were proceeding into a trap, talked one man into returning to the mess deck and pulled another back. After diving beneath the surface of the nearly flooded mess deck to insure that the starboard door to the buoy deck was still open, he returned to his two shipmates and told them to form a chain with him by holding onto each other’s belts, after which they would swim under water though the door to the buoy deck. During the escape, the man holding onto Seaman Apprentice Gray’s belt lost his grip. When the two men failed to surface, Seaman Apprentice Gray had to be ordered by his commanding officer not to reenter the vessel as BLACKTHORN was in imminent danger of sinking. Seaman Apprentice Gray demonstrated remarkable initiative, exceptional fortitude and daring in spite of imminent personal danger in this rescue. His courage and devotion to duty are most heartily commended are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.