The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Coast Guard Medal to Seaman Robert R. Pritchard, United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary heroism on the evening of 6 September 1990 when he rescued an injured woman trapped in the Edgewater breakwall at the entrance of Cleveland Harbor near Lake Erie. The woman was on of six persons thrown into the water when their sailboat ran aground and broke apart in a severe storm. Seaman Pritchard was serving as a crew member aboard a Coast Guard 41-foot utility boat (CG-41487) attached to Coast Guard Station Cleveland, Ohio. When CG-41487 arrived on scene, the sailboat had just run aground. When a report was received that a woman was wedged in the breakwall, Seaman Pritchard, without concern for his personal safety, volunteered to be placed on the breakwater by the crew of an Ohio Division of Watercraft rescue boat. Despite 50-knot winds and an 8- to 10-foot surf, and hampered by blinding wind-driven spray and rain, Seaman Pritchard inched his way towards the woman in the eerie light of flares, searchlights, and lightning. Repeatedly battered by the heavy surf, Seaman Pritchard worked doggedly to free the woman, whose legs had been wedged into a narrow crevice which kept her pinned underwater most of the time. He dove underwater in repeated attempts to free the trapped woman while the sailboat’s boom and rigging were being whipped dangerously back and forth over his head by the force of the waves. Finally, with the assistance of two other rescuers, Seaman Pritchard was able to free the woman. Then with great difficulty, the three rescuers placed the injured woman into the rescue boat which rushed her to another rescue unit. Later, when he tried to inspect the sailboat’s hull for other victims, Seaman Pritchard was washed over the breakwater. Fortunately, he was rescued, and the search was suspended due to increasingly severe weather. Although the rescued woman did not survive the ordeal, Seaman Pritchard 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 and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.