![]() ![]() The table was bolted to the floor, so Lipes had to stand with his knees bent throughout the operation. ![]() Rector was too tall to lay on the table, so a nearby cabinet was opened and Lipes put the patient's feet in the drawer. Lipes was 23 when he performed the surgery on sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon. "Personally, I'm not overwhelmed with awards, but I think it was important they present the medal because it helps to bring about some closure of things that fall through the cracks," he said. ![]() Lipes, 84, said past efforts to award him the Navy Commendation Medal failed because government officials believed a statute of limitations had passed. A news report on Lipes' feat won a Pulitzer Prize, and the Navy later made a movie about it. Wheeler Lipes performed the surgery in 1942, with his patient stretched out on a dining table as their submarine lay submerged 120 feet beneath the Pacific Ocean. Raleigh, NC - The Navy on Sunday honored a former pharmacists' mate with a commendation medal, more than 60 years after he saved a young sailor's life by performing an emergency appendectomy aboard a submarine during World War II. ![]()
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