An Apple Valley native has been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescuing a stranded boater last year.

During routine Atlantic operations off the coast of South Carolina on March 11, 2023, USS Cooperstown was called upon to rescue a boater lost at sea for days without food and drinking water. His sailboat had no propulsion, power or steering.

“Enduring ‘confused swells’ pitching the Littoral Combat Ship greater than 12-15 degree rolls and with minimal ambient light due to the cloud cover, the Cooperstown crew was able to locate the sailboat in peril” at about 4:45 a.m., the Navy said.

Gunner’s Mate Chief Justin Olson, a search and rescue swimmer, was lowered into the rough sea “in the pitch darkness” to rescue the boater, the Navy said. After being coaxed to abandon his sailboat, the boater took to the water where he became “dangerously panicked.”

Olson battled a combination of confused seas, high winds and the ship’s movement before the two were pulled safely aboard Cooperstown, the Navy said.

Olson was awarded the medal last week at a ceremony attended by his family and shipmates. Established by Congress in 1942, it is the highest non-combat decoration awarded for heroism to members of the Navy and Marine Corps.

“Fortunately [everyone] on the bridge and deck crew was phenomenal,” Olson told WJAX-TV out of Jacksonville. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have made it out of the water.”

Olson joined the Navy in May 2006 after graduating from Eastview High School in Apple Valley.

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