The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Chief Master-at-Arms Alan R. Baltazar, United States Navy, for heroism while embarked in U.S.S. OLDENDORF (DD-972), as leader of a two man boarding party which effected the rescue of fifty-five Vietnamese refugees from a sinking twenty-five foot boat adrift in the South China Sea on 10 July 1980. Lowered by LAMPS helicopter to the disabled vessel which was drifting toward reefs and shoals, Chief Petty Officer Baltazar reduced the flooding rate and rigged a sea anchor to stabilize the condition of the overcrowded, powerless, and pitching small boat. He then supervised the hoisting to safety of the weakened survivors who had been adrift for 18 days and who ranged in age from two months to sixty-seven years. By his selfless humanitarian initiative, courage, and unrelenting dedication to duty, Chief Petty Officer Baltazar was instrumental in saving fifty-five lives; thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.