A group of U.S. Navy sailors sprang into action during a base open house in Japan, helping to save the life of a child who suddenly went limp in her mother’s arms.

Five sailors — one assigned to Sasebo Naval Base and four from the amphibious assault ship USS America — were awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for their roles in the emergency during Sasebo’s Fleet Friendship Day on April 5, they recently told Stars and Stripes.

Petty Officers 1st Class Guillermo Gutierrez and Chantese Moore, both masters-at-arms, heard a cry for help and saw people pointing to a Japanese woman holding the child, Gutierrez said by phone Thursday.

“There was a language barrier, so we really couldn’t understand what the cry for help was from the parents,” he said.

Gutierrez said the child appeared pale and her eyes were unfocused. Moore alerted a nearby Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent to call emergency services and began clearing a path for them.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Chase Speed, a hospital corpsman and senior enlisted leader in base health services, arrived moments later, he said by phone Friday.

The child was breathing but lethargic, Speed said, and responded to a chest rub, a stimulus used to assess responsiveness.

Petty Officers 3rd Class Corey Jobes-Saint and Jonathan Hipolito, both hospital corpsmen assigned to the USS America, arrived to assist. Gutierrez and Moore helped control the crowd while the medical team went to work.

Speed said the child, who had a history of hyperglycemia, registered normal blood sugar levels but was suffering from hypoxemia — low oxygen levels in the blood. She was given free-flowing oxygen through a mask.

“Typically, we like the oxygen saturation being 98 or above, so 98 to 100,” Speed said. “Her oxygen saturation was approximately 92, so it desaturated a little bit.”

An ambulance took the child to Sasebo General Hospital.

The America’s commander, Capt. Ethan Rule, awarded medals to Speed, Moore and Jobes-Saint during an April 14 ceremony in the ship’s hangar bay.

“The swift and decisive actions of our medical team during Fleet and Friendship Day were instrumental in helping a child in critical need,” Rule said in comments emailed Tuesday by ship spokeswoman Lt. Carolina Fernandez. “I’m immensely proud their rigorous training has directly benefited a member of the Sasebo community.”

Gutierrez received the same decoration from Sasebo commander Capt. Michael Fontaine on April 7.

“There’s a saying that corpsmen go by: It is the duty of a hospital corpsman to wait in obscurity most of their life for a crisis that may never come,” Speed told Stars and Stripes. “But when it does come, it is their duty to give it all they have.”