The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Richard T. McDonald, United States Navy, for heroism while serving in U.S.S. FLORIKAN (ASR-9) on 15 September 1984. Upon being notified that a diver was in trouble on the ocean floor at two hundred seventy feet, Petty Officer McDonald, dressed in light weight Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, with complete disregard for his own safety and fully aware of the personal dangers involved by diving to more than twice the rated depth of his rig, unhesitatingly plunged into the turbulent sea to rescue his shipmate. While fighting back the life-threatening effects of Nitrogen Narcosis, Petty Officer McDonald used his own critically short breathing supply in a valiant attempt to revive the stricken diver. Subjecting himself to further danger, he made a heroic attempt to revive the succumbed diver with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which he abandoned only after exhausting his own air supply. Petty Officer McDonald’s courageous actions and selfless initiative in an effort to save his shipmate at the risk of his own life reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.