§ 500. — Lifesaving medals.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 14USC500]
TITLE 14--COAST GUARD
PART I--REGULAR COAST GUARD
CHAPTER 13--PAY, ALLOWANCES, AWARDS, AND OTHER RIGHTS AND BENEFITS
Sec. 500. Life-saving medals
(a) The Secretary may, under regulations prescribed by him, award a
Life-saving medal of gold or silver to any person, including personnel
of the Coast Guard, who rescues or endeavors to rescue any other person
from drowning, shipwreck, or other peril of the water in accordance with
the following provisions:
(1) if such rescue or attempted rescue is made at the risk of
one's own life and evidences extreme and heroic daring, the medal
shall be of gold;
(2) if such rescue or attempted rescue is not sufficiently
distinguished to deserve the medal of gold, but evidences the
exercise of such signal exertion as to merit recognition, the medal
shall be of silver.
(b) In order for a person to be eligible for the Life-saving Medals
the rescue or attempted rescue must take place in waters within the
United States or subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or if the rescue
or attempted rescue takes place outside such waters, one or the other of
the parties must be a citizen of the United States or from a vessel or
aircraft owned or operated by citizens of the United States.
(c) No person shall receive more than one gold medal and one silver
medal; but any person who has received or may hereafter receive a gold
or silver medal and who again performs an act which would entitle him to
receive another medal of the same class may be awarded, in lieu of a
second medal of the same class, a gold or silver bar, as the case may
be, to be worn with the medal already bestowed, and for every such
additional act, an additional bar may be awarded. Medals and bars in
lieu thereof, authorized by this subsection, may be awarded
posthumously.
(Aug. 4, 1949, ch. 393, 63 Stat. 536; Pub. L. 94-546, Sec. 1(31), Oct.
18, 1976, 90 Stat. 2521.)
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 14, U.S.C., 1946 ed., Secs. 193, 194, 195, 196 (June
20, 1874, ch. 344, Sec. 7, 18 Stat. 127; June 18, 1878, ch. 265,
Sec. 12, 20 Stat. 165; May 4, 1882, ch. 117, Sec. 9, 22 Stat. 57; Jan.
21, 1897, ch. 83, 29 Stat. 494).
Said sections have been rewritten so as to make the awarding of
Life-saving medals turn on whether or not the United States has an
interest in the heroic act, rather than on technical jurisdictional
grounds. Under existing law the award of a medal could be made in any
case in which the rescuer or the rescued was a citizen of the United
States, or was from a vessel owned or operated by the United States
regardless of where the rescue took place; and if the rescue took place
within waters of the United States the award could be made to an alien.
The existing law relating to the Treasury Department Life-Saving
Medal contained in title 14, U.S.C., 1946, ed., Secs. 192-196, has long
needed revision. The existing law is composed of a series of statutes
enacted separately between 1874 and 1897, and the result has not been
entirely unsatisfactory. The original statute, enacted in 1874 (title
14, U.S.C., 1946 ed., Sec. 193), provided for Life-saving medals of the
first and second class to be bestowed ``upon any persons who shall
hereafter endanger their own lives in saving, or endeavoring to save
lives from the perils of the sea, within the United States, or upon any
American vessel''. The medal of the first class was confined to cases of
``extreme and heroic daring'' and the medal of the second class was to
be awarded ``in cases not sufficiently distinguished to deserve the
medal of the first class'' Then in 1878 another act was passed (title
14, U.S.C., 1946 ed., Sec. 194) authorizing the bestowal of the medal of
the second class ``upon persons making such signal exertions in rescuing
and succoring the shipwrecked, and saving persons from drowning'' as, in
the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, merited recognition. These
two sections were construed by the Attorney General to be limited to the
rescue of persons who were subjected to the perils of the sea in any
waters of the United States in the vicinity of any lifeboat station,
life-saving station, or house of refuge. And the person upon whom the
medal could be bestowed was limited to members of life-saving crews.
(1895) Op. Att. Gen. 124. Thereupon, in 1897, an act was passed which
provided that the two earlier acts should ``be construed so as to
empower the Secretary of the Treasury to bestow such medals upon persons
making signal exertions in rescuing and succoring the shipwrecked and
saving persons from drowning in waters over which the United States has
jurisdiction, whether the said persons making such exertions were or
were not members of the Life-Saving Service or whether or not such
exertions were made in the vicinity of a life-saving station''. (Title
14, U.S.C., 1946 ed., Sec. 196.) This act was designed to give a more
liberal application to the two earlier acts, and all three were to be
read as one. (1900) 23 Op. Atty. Gen. 78. However, difficult questions
of interpretation have arisen because of the different jurisdictional
language in the three acts. For example, title 14, U.S.C., 1946 ed.,
Sec. 193, refers to rescues ``within the United States'', while title
14, U.S.C., 1946 ed., Sec. 196, refers to rescues ``in the waters over
which the United States has jurisdiction''. The need for clarification
is obvious. Subsection (a) authorizes the awarding of the medal to any
person, including Coast Guard personnel, who rescues or endeavors to
rescue any person from drowning, shipwreck, or peril of the water. If
the rescue or attempted rescue is at the risk of one's own life and
evidences extreme and heroic daring, the medal shall be of gold, and if
the rescue or attempted rescue is not sufficiently distinguished to
deserve the gold medal, but evidences the exertion of such signal
exertion as to merit recognition, the medal shall be of silver. Thus,
the acts for which the medals are to be awarded are defined simply and
without any geographical or jurisdictional limitations. The difficulty
with the existing law is the attempt to define the required deed
together with those limitations. Subsection (a) does not change existing
law insofar as the type of act necessary for the medals is concerned; it
merely simplifies and clarifies existing law.
Subsection (b) contains the jurisdictional limitations on the
awarding of the medal and broadens, to a considerable extent, the
provisions of existing law. It is the intent of this subsection to
authorize the awarding of a medal in all cases where the United States
has a legitimate interest in recognizing meritorious acts, such as where
a United States citizen performs the act, or where a United States
citizen is rescued, or where United States waters or United States
vessels or aircraft are involved. Accordingly, rescues by United States
citizens anywhere in the world will be recognized. Any person, including
persons not citizens of the United States, may receive medals if the
rescue or attempted rescue takes place in waters within the United
States or subject to its jurisdiction or, in cases of rescues outside
such waters, if either the rescuer or the person rescued is from a
United States vessel or aircraft, or the person rescued is a United
States citizen. Thus, every case in which the United States government
has an interest is provided for. A United States citizen who performs a
heroic act sufficient to justify a medal in state waters, or in foreign
waters, could not receive one under existing law, but could receive such
award under this proposed revision. The awarding of medals should not
turn on technical jurisdictional grounds; it should turn rather on the
interest of the United States to recognize noble and heroic acts.
Subsection (c) dealing with the awarding of bars for additional
acts, clarifies, but does not change title 14, U.S.C., 1946 ed.,
Sec. 195, except that authority is granted to award medals posthumously.
81st Congress, House Report No. 557.
Amendments
1976--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94-546 substituted ``Secretary'' for
``Secretary of the Treasury''.
