The Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism has been posthumously awarded to Nathan Gage Ingram, a Coronado-based Navy SEAL who was lost at sea last year while trying to help stem the flow of Iranian-made weapons to Yemen.
The award was quietly given during an April 18 ceremony at the Silver Strand Training Complex in Imperial Beach.
The Navy says Ingram died on Jan. 11, 2024, during a night mission as of SEAL Team 3 boarded a small boat in the Arabian Sea carrying Iranian-supplied missile components bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Amid shifting seas, Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher J. Chambers lost his grip and fell into the water. Ingram, a Special Warfare Operator 1st class, jumped in to rescue him, the Navy said.
Both men were wearing heavy equipment. They quickly sank in the water and drowned.
Later in the year, an investigation by the U.S. Central Command determined they had died in a preventable accident stemming from “deficiencies, gaps and inconsistencies” in training, policies, tactics and procedures, plus “conflicting guidance” on when and how to use emergency flotation devices, The Associated Press reported.
