The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Seaman First Class Bruce E. McLaughlin, United States Naval Reserve, for heroic conduct while attached to NTC Gulfport, Mississippi. Seaman First Class McLaughlin saved the lives of three trainee companions when their sailboat capsized during a storm on 13 August 1944. Leaving his friends clinging to the loosened mast, he negotiated a six-hour swim through choppy seas and sent crash boats to their rescue.