Chief Petty Officer Lewis ‘Flash’ Gordon, a British sailor, has been honoured with the US Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, a rare occurrence for non-Americans, for his exemplary service in maintaining peace and security in the Gulf region.

Gordon, originally from Clevedon in Somerset but now living in Portsmouth, spent a week aboard the USS Dextrous earlier this year as part of one of the world’s largest multinational naval exercises, IMX23.

In his time aboard the US vessel, he imparted his expertise in operating the Seafox to his American colleagues. The Seafox has been an integral part of minehunting operations in the Royal Navy for over a decade.

The US Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal – commonly referred to simply as the Navy Achievement medal or NAM – is presented to US sailors, marines and Coast Guard personnel who have performed “meritorious service or achievement in either combat or non-combat situations based on sustained performance or specific achievement of a superlative nature”.

This medal is rarely presented to non-Americans, which underscores the high regard for Gordon’s contributions.

The recognition was bestowed by the staff of Combined Task Force 52, responsible for mine warfare and associated operations in the region. They singled out Gordon’s sustained commitment and superior performance over the past year as deserving of this special commendation.

You can read more by clicking here.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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20 COMMENTS

  2. Excellent news! Not just for Gordon (well done) but in helping cementing relationships between the US and UK navies. Whilst smaller than most contributors would like, our navy and its sailors can and do demonstrate, commitment, intelligence and a can-do attitude to their work. I remain proud of them and all of our armed services.

  4. “”Chief Petty Officer Lewis ‘Flash’ Gordon, a British sailor, has been honoured with the US Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal,””
    I do have to ask, will the Navy allow him to wear it?

        • I seem to remember Rick Jolly having to ask her Majesty at the time if was allowed to accept and wear the award Argentina gave him,which apparently she told him yes and wear it with pride…

          • I visited the site of the hospital at Ajax Bay in 2014 on a Battlefield tour. How they saved so many lives in a such a shitty place I simply do not know. Tip of my hat to all the medics, they earned their medals

          • They did a fantastic job, I rewatched the documentary about the Falklands medics,always makes me smile when they asked the Argies for blood the Argies thinking it was for some obscene reason until they were shown medics operating on there own men.

      • He has been cleared to receive the award and it has been cleared that it was publicised.

        I’m speculating the reason being is to subtly get out there that drone mine detection and clearance is looking good and the USN are impressed with what RN have achieved?

        Meanwhile, on here, there is profound regret that we are not converting trawlers with a cable boom and cutters on each side to sweep WW2 style……in spite of the fact that nobody sane does mine sweeping anymore….

        • Exactly mate. These press releases also highlight other news worthy achievements, as well as the impressive efforts and hard work made by the Chief Petty Officer.

        • SB wrote:

          “”Meanwhile, on here, there is profound regret that we are not converting trawlers with a cable boom and cutters on each side to sweep WW2 style……in spite of the fact that nobody sane does mine sweeping anymore….””

          My first posting was to 24 Field Squadron and 3 Troop had a permanent tasking of going around old RAF airfields, checking and digging out lines of explosives buried under the runways in case the Germans did invade. They used to tow this huge pressure boiler type thingy which was used to steam the explosives out

          • Hopefully, that job was completed some years ago….

            No sure if/why that means going back to trawler minesweepers is good?

          • I seem to recall the it was “Op Crabstick”. Worked for QinetiQ in 2004 when we fitted Remote controls to 2 x JCB’s and 2 x CAT’s to carry out the task.

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