Criteria The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 r... The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 required four years of service. MoreHide
Criteria The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 r... The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 required four years of service. MoreHide
Criteria The Meritorious Unit Commendation may be awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to any unit of the Navy or Marine Corps that distinguishes itself under combat or noncombat conditions by either valorous ... The Meritorious Unit Commendation may be awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to any unit of the Navy or Marine Corps that distinguishes itself under combat or noncombat conditions by either valorous or meritorious achievement which renders that unit outstanding compared to other units performing similar service, but not sufficient to justify the award of the Navy Unit Commendation. MoreHide
Criteria The Humanitarian Service Medal is an individual award, presented to individuals who are physically present at the site of immediate relief and who directly contribute to and influence the humanitarian... The Humanitarian Service Medal is an individual award, presented to individuals who are physically present at the site of immediate relief and who directly contribute to and influence the humanitarian action. The Humanitarian Service Medal is only awarded for service during the identified "period of immediate relief;" eligibility for the Humanitarian Service Medal terminates once (if) the humanitarian action evolves into an "established ongoing operation beyond the initial emergency condition." MoreHide
Criteria The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 r... The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 required four years of service. MoreHide
Criteria The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces in the grades of lieutenant commander (or major) and below. It is awarded for meritorious service or achieveme... The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces in the grades of lieutenant commander (or major) and below. It is awarded for meritorious service or achievement in either combat or noncombat based on sustained performance or specific achievement of a superlative nature but which does not warrant a Navy Commendation Medal or higher. It may not be awarded for service involving participation in aerial flight after January 1, 1969. MoreHide
Criteria The Sea Service Deployment Ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps assigned to U.S. homeported (including Hawaii and Alaska) ships, deploying units, or Fleet Marine Force commands, f... The Sea Service Deployment Ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps assigned to U.S. homeported (including Hawaii and Alaska) ships, deploying units, or Fleet Marine Force commands, for 12 months accumulated sea duty, or for duty with the Fleet Marine Force that includes at least one deployment of 90 consecutive days. MoreHide
Description During August-September 1989, America (CV 66) and Coral Sea (CV 43) operated off the coast of Lebanon following the Israeli capture of Sheik Obeid and the reported killing of Lieutenant Colonel WilliaDuring August-September 1989, America (CV 66) and Coral Sea (CV 43) operated off the coast of Lebanon following the Israeli capture of Sheik Obeid and the reported killing of Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, USMC.
Ambassador John McCarthy and the entire staff of the U.S. Embassy here were evacuated by helicopter this morning after a day of angry, government-sanctioned anti-American demonstrations by hundreds of Lebanese Christians raised concerns that the diplomats might be taken hostage. {In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler accused Gen. Michel Aoun, military ruler of Christian Lebanon and organizer of the protests, of threatening to expose the U.S. diplomats to a "good dose of Christian terrorism." Details on Page A32.} Protesters at the embassy said they had intended to block entry to the building today and had contemplated cutting off water and supplies in what one called an effort "to give the Americans a taste of the blockade the Lebanese Christians have been subjected to by Syria." Aoun criticized the Americans' "precipitous departure" as "puzzling and petulant behavior" that "merely reflects the nature and conduct of the U.S. State Department's policy toward that part of Lebanon free of Syrian occupation." Aoun has sought full U.S. support for his six-month-old campaign to drive Syrian troops out of Lebanon, a campaign opposed by Lebanon's Moslems. The evacuation marks the first time in Lebanon's 14-year-old civil war that the United States has no diplomatic representation in the country. The embassy had remained functioning with skeleton staffs even through the most devastating terrorist attacks of 1983 and 1984, when suicide bombings destroyed embassy buildings and the U.S. Marine barracks, killing dozens of embassy staffers and 241 American servicemen. A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Nicosia, Cyprus, where McCarthy and 29 aides transferred from the rescue helicopters to a plane for a flight to West Germany, called the evacuation "temporary" and said it was "in response to deteriorating local circumstances which no longer permitted the embassy to function effectively," the Associated Press reported. At the Rhine-Main U.S. military base near Frankfurt, where the diplomats arrived late today for an overnight rest before leaving for the United States on Thursday, McCarthy told reporters that "as soon as those questions of security and safety can be resolved . . . it would be important for us to resume the work we were doing in Beirut. "It just seemed to me that in the last several days it was no longer possible for me to guarantee to Washington that the safety of my staff was secure, and it was for that reason that we left," McCarthy said. Despite Aoun's caustic remarks, the Lebanese Front, a coalition of Christian leaders, said it regretted the U.S. decision, and it appealed to Washington to reconsider. Sunni Moslem acting Prime Minister Selim Hoss, Aoun's rival for the country's leadership, declined to comment publicly on the move, but he had complained in an interview last week that McCarthy had not been to Moslem west Beirut to see him and hear his point of view. Lebanon's Moslems are allied with Syria in the fighting against the Iraqi-backed Christians, which has left more than 800 dead and 2,500 wounded in the past six months. Helicopters arrived at the heavily fortified American Embassy in the forested hills of the capital's Christian suburb of Oakar shortly after 7 a.m. and quickly removed the U.S. diplomats. All the U.S. Marine guards also were evacuated, leaving about 300 Lebanese guards behind. Several standing idly behind concertina wire after the evacuation said all they were told by the departing Americans was that their salaries would be paid as usual and that they would be informed two days ahead of time when to report back to work. Jibran Tueini, an organizer of the embassy demonstration, insisted that the operation was a peaceful one. Tueini, whose father, Ghassan Tueini, is a prominent Beirut newspaper publisher and a former ambassador to the United Nations, said no hostage-taking was intended and that the purpose of the siege was to push demands for U.S. recognition of Aoun's contested Christian government as the legitimate government of Lebanon. Tueini accused McCarthy of "trying to drive a wedge between the Lebanese" and said he will not be allowed to return to the embassy until he presents his diplomatic credentials to Aoun, thus conferring formal U.S. recognition. McCarthy arrived here a year ago as the Lebanese parliament failed to choose a successor to outgoing President Amin Gemayel, and the government split into rival Moslem and Christian factions. He has not presented his credentials to either side. Aides to Aoun said the general had been incensed by reports that McCarthy had been encouraging more moderate Lebanese legislators and other politicians to speak out against the "war of liberation" against Syria and that McCarthy saw Aoun's demands for a Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon as "unrealistic." Syria has an estimated 40,000 troops in Lebanon after initially sending units there in 1976 as an Arab deterrent force in the Lebanese civil war. The United States has publicly criticized Syria for its heavy shelling of Christian neighborhoods and for refusing to negotiate with Aoun. Aoun, however, has called for stronger U.S. action against Syria. The current round of fighting, now in its sixth month, has taken a heavy toll among a population trying to survive amid the shelling and paralyzed economic activity. While Aoun's tactics are criticized by some upper-class segments of Christian society, few Christians oppose his nationalist goals. At the same time, irritation with the United States appears to be growing among Christians over what they see as American hesitation to press Damascus to lift its blockade of Christian ports and end its shelling of the Christian enclave. Observers here say that, with its embassy closed, Washington's ability to gather information on the complex conflict will be greatly diminished. The American Embassy's ability to communicate with the warring factions had already been limited by risks involving shelling and hostage-taking, which prohibited trips to the Syrian-controlled Moslem sector of Beirut.... More
Criteria The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 r... The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 required four years of service. MoreHide
Criteria The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces in the grades of lieutenant commander (or major) and below. It is awarded for meritorious service or achieveme... The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces in the grades of lieutenant commander (or major) and below. It is awarded for meritorious service or achievement in either combat or noncombat based on sustained performance or specific achievement of a superlative nature but which does not warrant a Navy Commendation Medal or higher. It may not be awarded for service involving participation in aerial flight after January 1, 1969. MoreHide
Criteria The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 r... The Navy Good Conduct Medal (NGCM) is a decoration presented by the United States Navy to recognize members who have completed three years of honorable service. Medals awarded before January 1, 1996 required four years of service. MoreHide
Criteria The Sea Service Deployment Ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps assigned to U.S. homeported (including Hawaii and Alaska) ships, deploying units, or Fleet Marine Force commands, f... The Sea Service Deployment Ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps assigned to U.S. homeported (including Hawaii and Alaska) ships, deploying units, or Fleet Marine Force commands, for 12 months accumulated sea duty, or for duty with the Fleet Marine Force that includes at least one deployment of 90 consecutive days. MoreHide
Barry Fagan
Howard McGrath
George Dankulich