The 2025 Association for Rescue at Sea Vice Admiral Thomas Sargent III Gold Medal is awarded to Aviation Survival Technician 2nd Class James Chandler, of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Houston, for his heroic actions saving eight lives on the night of May 28, 2024.
Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston received an urgent distress call from a 40-foot dive boat 45 nautical miles offshore from Galveston, Texas. The vessel – operated by the Texas A&M dive team, with eight people on board – suffered a propulsion casualty and was rapidly taking on water in 30-knot winds and 8–10-foot seas. To complicate the situation, large bands of severe thunderstorms stalled over the area and were battering the vessel and its crew.
Battling low ceilings, high winds, strong seas and severe thunderstorms, Chandler and the rest of the crew of a Coast Guard rescue helicopter prepared for several challenging hoist evolutions that would be required to save all eight lives.
Chandler immediately noticed the deteriorating weather after arriving on-scene, as well as the dire situation of the vessel and people on board. Due to the sea state, Chandler elected to be hoisted to the water and swam 50 yards to the disabled vessel to further assess the situation and prepare the survivors to be hoisted. Struggling with sea sickness and fatigue during the five-hour evolution, Petty Officer Chandler provided direction to the air crew and survivors to ensure the safe delivery and recovery of the rescue basket to the pitching vessel.
Upon reaching the helicopter’s maximum weight and capacity limitations, the rescue crew was forced to return to shore to deliver survivors – twice – thus leaving Chandler to manage the chaotic scene. His willingness to remain on the sinking vessel to provide assistance ensured the safety of those remaining, should the vessel capsize.
A second helicopter, also from Air Station Houston, arrived on scene two hours later to hoist the remaining people. Once all eight survivors had been rescued, Chandler was finally recovered from the churning seas and returned to the air station.
The AFRAS Vice Adm. Thomas Sargent III Gold Medal was initially awarded in 1982 and has been firmly established for annual presentation since 1987. First called “The AFRAS Gold Medal,” its name was changed in 2009 to honor the Association’s first Chairman, Vice Adm. Sargent, a former Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. The prestigious award is presented annually to a Coast Guard enlisted man or woman for an act of extraordinary bravery during a rescue at sea.
