Introduction

The secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Commodation Medal to Lieutenant Thomas Copel for services set forth in the following citation. On 14 January 1970, Lieutenant Copel flew the wing aircraft of a two plane attack mission in Southeast Asia. Despite heavy anti-aircraft fire in the area, he placed all of his bombs on target resulting in five enemy trucks destroyed and many secondary explosions and many enemy casualties. The combat distinguishing device is authorized for the secretary M. F. Weisner Vice Admiral United States Navy.