In a ceremony held at Air Station Cape Cod on Friday, the Coast Guard awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to Petty Officer 3rd Class Evan Staph and the Air Medal to Petty Officer 2nd Class Derrick P. Suba for their actions on February 15, 2015, during a lifesaving rescue mission south of Nantucket.
Mr. Staph is the 144th recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross in Coast Guard history.
During the rescue, a Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew navigated through low visibility and near hurricane force winds to save a father and son aboard a sailboat disabled and adrift in 25 foot waves 150 miles south of Nantucket.
Initial on-scene weather conditions were nine-foot seas and building, with 40-mph winds. By the time the crew was recovered, conditions had deteriorated to 25-foot seas and winds of nearly 60 mph. The water temperature was 43 degrees and the air temperature was 35 degrees.
“Our purpose was to get them home,” said Suba. “We kept going to make sure we got them home.”
Air Station Cape Cod crews frequently provide assistance to the residents of Martha’s Vineyard, and are called upon when MedFlight is unable to provide emergency transportation for Island patients to mainland hospitals.