U.S. Coast Guard aviation rescue swimmer and victims aboard a Coast Guard helicopter during Hurricane Harvey rescue operations in the greater Houston, Texas, metro area Aug. 28, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strickland.
U.S. Coast Guard aviation rescue swimmer and victims aboard a Coast Guard helicopter during Hurricane Harvey rescue operations in the greater Houston, Texas, metro area Aug. 28, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strickland.

We are proud to announce the winners of our 2018 maritime search and rescue awards. Our Board of Directors pored through numerous submissions, detailing heroic rescues, throughout the first half of the year, selecting the following for honors:

Vice Admiral Thomas Sargent III Gold Medal: U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician Third Class Brendan T. Kiley and Aviation Survival Technician First Class Matthew Silvious, for two separate rescues;

Chairman’s Award: U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary crewmembers from District 13 Flotillas 8-2 and 8-4;

Amver Award: Captain and crew of the m/v Joanna;

Amver Special Award: Captain and crew of the m/v Hercules Leader;

Cruise Ship Humanitarian Award: Captain and crew of the Carnival Elation;

C-Port Award: Captain Nathan Lins, of TowBoat U.S., Catalina;

CAR/SAR Award: Crewmembers of the Domincan Naval Auxiliary Santo Domingo Flotilla and Air Unit.

We will feature individual stories here on the blog about all these rescues in the coming days, as we lead up to our annual Capitol Hill Gold Medal ceremony in Washington DC, Sep. 13, at which many of these honorees will be presented their awards.