Marine Corps Sgt. William Carroll, left, restaurant worker Ami Amemiya, center, and Sgt. Jarrett Fuqua pose with letters of appreciation from the city of Gotemba, Japan, June 21, 2023. The trio worked together to save a choking man's life a month earlier. (Emily Weiss/U.S. Marine Corps)

TOKYO — Two Marines who helped save a choking victim’s life have received letters of appreciation from officials in Gotemba, a city near Combined Arms Training Center-Camp Fuji.

Sgts. William Carroll, of Canyon City, Colo., and Jarret Fuqua, of Ringgold, Ga., were recognized on June 21 for helping a fellow diner at a Korean barbecue restaurant on May 26. The 56-year-old man was choking on food and suffering a heart attack.

The Marines administered the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a piece of meat from the man’s throat and administered CPR while restaurant employee Ami Amemiya called emergency services, according to a June 21 Marine news release and a spokesman for the Gotemba Fire Department. Amemiya was honored alongside the Marines.

"What you are capable of doing and what you actually do are two different things,” the spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone June 27. “It's difficult to actually take action, so their act was outstanding.”

Some government spokespeople in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

The letters Carroll and Fuqua received say their actions were “meaningful to the Japan-U.S. friendship.”

“We are extremely proud and appreciative of Sergeants Carroll and Fuqua for their actions which helped save the life of a local man,” Col. Neil Owens, Camp Fuji’s commander, told Stars and Stripes in an email Wednesday. “The quick thinking and professionalism which they exhibited while in a liberty period should serve as an example for all of us.”

The actions taken by Carroll, the storage chief for the ammunition supply point office, and Fuqua, a logistics platoon sergeant, inspired an interest in CPR classes at Camp Fuji, according to a Tuesday post on the base’s Facebook page.

The two Marines are the latest in a string of good Samaritans among U.S. service members in Japan.

In April, three Marines from Camp Pendleton, temporarily stationed in Japan, performed emergency first aid on a young Japanese snowboarder while on a skiing trip in Nagano. The young man had fallen and sliced his head open on his snowboard.

The Marines controlled the bleeding and called ski patrol while keeping the boy and his friends calm. The Marines were not officially recognized, but the snowboarder’s parents treated them to dinner at a local restaurant.

In March, two sailors from Naval Air Facility Misawa were awarded certificates of commendation from Oirase Mayor Takashi Narita. The sailors in April 2022 responded to a car crash and helped the driver from the vehicle as it filled with smoke.