Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 2 Line: 23

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Citation to Accompany the Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Jeffrey R. McCullars, United States Coast Guard
Lieutenant McCullars is cited for extraordinary achievement, while participating in aerial flight on the morning of 5 December 1996 while serving as aircraft commander aboard Coast Guard helicopter HH-60J, CGNR 6024. The aircrew was engaged in the perilous rescue of five victims from the fishing vessel EL DAN, which had capsized in 90-knot winds, forcing its crew into the raging, freezing waters of Portage Bay, Alaska. Dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Lieutenant McCullars flawlessly navigated more than 130 miles through mountain passes and severe turbulence to the vessel’s last known position. After arriving on scene, the descent through sea spray and ice fog quickly reduced forward visibility to one-sixteenth mile as the aircraft’s wind screen became opaque with sea spray. Using direction-finding equipment, Lieutenant McCullars homed on the vessel’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon signal, locating the victims’ raft, which was being pounded by 20-foot waves in near white-water seas of wind-driven ice and spray. Despite violent down drafts and near white-out conditions in 90-know winds, Lieutenant McCullars meticulously orchestrated crew actions and instrument navigation to safely guide the helicopter into hoist position. During the 26 minute hoisting evolution, Lieutenant McCullars supervised, maintained communications, and provided critical advisories, enabling his crew to entirely focus on each hoist as the victims were brought aboard. With all five victims safely on board, Lieutenant McCullars assumed the flight controls and skillfully flew the aircraft back through hurricane-force winds and turbulence, safely delivering the victims to Kodiak. Lieutenant McCullars’ actions, aeronautical skill, and valor were instrumental in the rescue of five people. His courage, judgment, and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.