AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  Hurricane Harvey
MODEL:  MH-65D

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant James A. Rader, United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight from 26 August to 1 September 2017 in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. Demonstrating exceptional aeronautical skill, Lieutenant Rader flew 18 day and night hours combating 50-knot winds, torrential rain and visibility less than a quarter mile. On the night of 27 August, commanding the only rescue aircraft operating in the greater Houston area, Lieutenant Rader flew under a 200-foot cloud ceiling while narrowly dodging a deadly maze of unlit towers and exhaust stacks due to city-wide power outages. He and his crew were dispatched to transport a two-year-old girl, clinging to life, and her medical team to Texas Medical Center which had restored power and necessary staff to keep her alive. Following this mission, Lieutenant Rader quickly refueled and launched to rescue a patient with severe head trauma, needing immediate transport to the only available neurosurgeon in Houston. After landing in a parking lot surrounded by obstacles and loading the patient aboard, Lieutenant Rader departed the parking lot critically low on fuel. During takeoff, he encountered a severe downdraft causing the aircraft to descend more than 50 feet with the rotor blades mere feet from buildings on either side. Utilizing all available aircraft power, Lieutenant Rader quickly maneuvered the aircraft between the two hospital structures, flew the aircraft from danger and delivered the patient to the hospital helipad, again forced to weave his aircraft between construction cranes and buildings obscured in the low clouds. Over the next four days, Lieutenant Rader hoisted several trapped survivors desperately clinging to rooftops and transported a crucial supply of blood to a needy hospital, ultimately saving another 55 lives. Lieutenant Rader's actions, aeronautical skill and heroism were instrumental in the saving of 57 people. His courage, judgment and devotion to duty in the face of hazardous flying conditions are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.