REGION — A Coronado-based Navy SEAL who died during a mission in the Gulf of Aden last year has been posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism, the Navy announced today.
The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the second-highest medal awarded for non-combat actions by the U.S. Department of the Navy.
Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27, was lost at sea along with Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, on Jan. 11, 2024. Chambers lost his grip while boarding a vessel carrying “an illegal shipment of Iranian-supplied ballistic-missile and cruise-missile components” bound for Yemen, Navy officials said.
After Chambers fell into the waters below, Ingram jumped into the sea “without hesitation” to try to save him, according to the Navy.
Ingram’s wife, Jewel Ingram, accepted the award on her husband’s behalf during a ceremony at the Navy’s Silver Strand Training Complex in Imperial Beach.
She said in a statement, “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. In Gage’s words, ‘We have to lose one of us to learn and do better. It’s the only way we improve.”’
Ingram enlisted in September 2019, graduated from boot camp at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes two months later, and served with West Coast SEAL units upon graduating from qualification training in Coronado in 2021. He was the recipient of various personal and unit awards.
A Navy report released last fall found that the fatal incident was “preventable” and “marked by systematic issues.”
Thursday’s announcement of Ingram’s posthumous award said the deaths led to reviews of safety training and other procedures “to ensure the safety and readiness of each operator and combat support personnel, and honoring the memories of our lost teammates.”
