The 1999 AFRAS Gold Medal/AMVER Award Ceremony

Congressman Floyd Spence chatting with Vice Admiral Card, Vice Commandant USCG	Congressman Ralph Regula congratulates Petty Officer Kihlmire.	AFRAS Chairman Admiral James S. Gracey, (USCG, Ret.), right, congratulates BM1 and Mrs. Kihlmire.
Awardees Capt. Tirakis representing M/V STARMAN, left, and BM1 Jeffrey Kihlmire USCG.	Admiral Gracey, right, presents the AMVER plaque to Captain Demetrious Tirakis of the Hellenic Coast Guard for the outstanding rescues performed by M/V STARMAN on 8 Nov 1998.	Admiral Gracey presents the Gold Medal to Jeffrey Kihlmire, Boatswain's Mate First Class, USCG.
Admiral Gracey, right, chatting with Congressman Howard Coble and his Legislative Director Missy Branson.

 

The 1999 AFRAS Gold Medal/AMVER award ceremony was a great success. AFRAS was delighted to honor BM1 Jeffrey Kihlmire with the gold medal award for his rescue performed on 14 November 1998. Petty Officer Kihlmire was joined by his wife, his brother and sister in law, and his parents at the presentation.

AFRAS was also pleased to present the AMVER plaque to Captain Demetrious Tirakis, Hellenic Coast Guard in honor of the outstanding rescues performed by the Greek bulk carrier STARMAN in November of 1998. M/V STARMAN is owned by Transman Shipping Enterprises, located in Athens, Greece.

As in past years representatives from a number of countries outside the United States attended the award ceremony. In 1999 these included the following:

INDIA Commodore VK Bhansali, Indian Naval Attaché

GERMANY Heinrich Hoppe, Managing Director, German Lifeboat Service

GREAT BRITAIN Ian Ventham, Head of Fundraising and Marketing, Royal National Lifeboat Institution

SCOTLAND Hamish MacDonald, Maritime Rescue International

MEXICO Commander Ezequiel Osorio, Assistant Naval Attaché

GREECE Captain Demetrious Tirakis, Hellenic Coast Guard (Accepting the AMVER award on behalf of Transman Shipping Enterprises in Athens)

AFRAS was also delighted to have the following congressmen in attendance or represented at the event. Representative Wayne Gilchrest who co-hosted the ceremony, REP Coble, REP Underwood, The Honorable Bill Livingood (House Sgt. at Arms), REP Packard, REP Regula, REP Bartlett, REP Delahunt and REP Floyd Spence.