Nathan Gage Ingram, the Coronado-based Navy SEAL who was lost at sea last year while conducting a night-time seizure of a vessel illegally transporting advanced lethal aid from Iran to resupply Houthi forces in Yemen, was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism.
Ingram, 27, jumped into the water on Jan. 11, 2024 to rescue his teammate, Chris Chambers, after he fell in.
At night, Ingram and his teammates were part of a mission that interdicted a vessel with an illegal shipment of Iranian-supplied ballistic-missile and cruise-missile components, preventing them from reaching Yemen.
“The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is reserved for those who undertake extraordinary acts of selflessness, often at great peril to themselves, even more so than those they seek to save,” said a Naval Special Warfare operator during the award ceremony on April 18. “Today, Gage will join the ranks of distinguished recipients of this esteemed medal, and we will etch his name into the hallowed halls of Naval Special Warfare, our Navy, and our country for all time.”
Ingram enlisted in the Navy on Sept. 25, 2019, and graduated from boot camp in Illinois in November 2019.
Ingram served with West Coast-based SEAL units since graduating from SEAL qualification training in Coronado in 2021.
“One thing that stood out was Gage’s clear understanding of the fallen heroes who came before him and the profound legacies they left within the teams of Naval Special Warfare,” said Jewel Ingram, Gage’s wife. “In Gage’s words, ‘We have to lose one of us to learn and do better. It’s the only way we improve.’”
