Marine Corps
Camp Pendleton Marine receives highest noncombat medal for life-saving actions: ‘That’s what Marines do’
Stars and Stripes
February 10, 2026
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Billy Scafidel, an armory chief with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, poses for a photo with his significant other after being awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Medal on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 6, 2026. (Mary Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
A Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Friday was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps medal for saving a Marine’s life after a severe vehicle accident two years ago.
The medal received by Staff Sgt. Billy Scafidel, an armory chief with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, is the Navy Department’s highest non-combat decoration for heroism, a service news release said.
“Nothing really prepared me for a situation like this, it’s just in my nature, when I see someone in danger, I want to help out. That’s what Marines do,” Scafidel said.
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Billy Scafidel, an armory chief with the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, is awarded a Navy and Marine Corps medal on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, for his heroic actions of saving a Marine’s life from a severe vehicle accident. (Mary Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Billy Scafidel, an armory chief with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, stands at attention after being awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Medal by Maj. Gen. Thomas B. Savage, the commanding general, 1st Marine Division, on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 6, 2026. (Mary Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
On Sept. 1, 2024, while working on his car outside of his home near the Del Mar Boat Basin, Scafidel heard a loud splash in the nearby water and found a truck lying on its side, half-submerged.
Scafidel and U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Andrew James, who was nearby, rushed to the scene and found a driver trapped in a vehicle being submerged in water. Without hesitation, Scafidel rushed into the water and quickly began smashing the front windshield with a hammer.
As he worked to break the windshield, Sgt. Jason Baughman, a military police officer, arrived and assisted, enabling them to pull the trapped driver to safety. The driver was transported to the Naval Hospital and fully recovered.
The release noted that Fire Department personnel assisting Scafidel noticed his hands were cut up from the rescue effort, which Scafidel said he “didn’t even realize.”
“In the face of adversity when a life was on the line, Staff Sgt. Scafidel, without care for his own safety, put himself in a position to make a difference,” said U.S. Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Marc McGlothlin, senior enlisted leader of Headquarters and Service Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group.