Jewel Ingram accepts the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously awarded April 18, 2025, to her husband, Navy SEAL Nathan Gage Ingram, at the Silver Strand Training Complex in Imperial Beach, Calif. (Chelsea Daily/U.S. Navy)
A 27-year-old Navy SEAL who died trying to save a fellow sailor during a dangerous nighttime mission off the Somali coast last year was posthumously awarded the service’s highest noncombat honor for heroism, the Navy said this week.
Nathan Gage Ingram, a special warfare operator first class, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal earlier this month for his “bravery and selflessness” during a January 2024 weapons interdiction in the Arabian Sea, the service said in a statement on Thursday.
The target of the special operations mission was a boat carrying Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missile components bound for Houthi militants in Yemen.
While trying to board the vessel, Christopher Chambers, a special warfare operator chief petty officer days away from his 37th birthday, lost his grip and fell into heavy seas. Ingram jumped into the water to try to save Chambers, but the two were weighed down by heavy equipment and drowned.
Both were lost at sea.
Navy SEAL Nathan Gage Ingram was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on April 18, 2025, for his actions during an Arabian Sea mission on Jan. 11, 2024. Ingram jumped into the water to try to save fellow Navy SEAL Christopher Chambers. Both of them drowned and were lost at sea. (U.S. Navy)
“One thing that stood out was Gage’s clear understanding of the fallen heroes who came before him and the profound legacies they left within the teams of Naval Special Warfare,” Ingram’s wife, Jewel, said as she accepted the award during an April 18 ceremony at a San Diego-area military training complex for special operations forces.
“In Gage’s words, ‘We have to lose one of us to learn and do better. It’s the only way we improve.’”
Ingram was a Texas native who enlisted in 2019 and graduated from SEAL training in 2021. Chambers, from Maryland, enlisted in 2012 and graduated from SEAL training in 2014.
Among Ingram’s other awards and decorations were the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, according to the statement.
Naval forces in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations have worked for years to intercept weapons being sent to Houthi militants.
Last month, the U.S. stepped up its efforts to degrade Houthi capabilities with ongoing, daily airstrikes against the group’s military sites in Yemen.
An investigation released in October concluded that the deaths of Ingram and Chambers were preventable.
It cited deficiencies in training, policies, tactics and procedures as well as conflicting guidance on when and how to use emergency flotation devices and extra buoyancy material that could have kept them alive, The Associated Press reported at the time.
Since their deaths, safety training, gear checks and procedural reviews and implementation have been done to ensure safety and readiness of special warfare personnel, the service said in the statement.
Naval Special Warfare operators stand in formation during an ceremony near San Diego on April 18, 2025, during which Navy SEAL Nathan Gage Ingram was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The award is the service’s highest noncombat honor for heroism and was given in recognition of Ingram’s actions trying to save a fellow Navy SEAL during a mission in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 11, 2024. (Chelsea Daily/U.S. Navy)
Members of the Ingram family hold the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously awarded to Navy SEAL Nathan Gage Ingram near San Diego on April 18, 2025. His heroism in trying to rescue a fellow Navy SEAL from the Arabian Sea during a mission on Jan. 11, 2024, earned him the medal, which is the service's highest noncombat award for heroism. (Chelsea Daily/U.S. Navy)
