The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Aviation Radioman First Class John H. Vieth, Jr., United States Navy, for heroic conduct while serving in a patrol bomber which had completed the rescue of an Army pilot from Russell Island and then crashed off Lunga Point on 1 January 1943. Aviation Radioman First Class Vieth refused to save himself until he had succeeded in bringing the trapped and wounded pilot clear of the submerged plane.