Seabee stationed at NCBC named USO Sailor of the Year

GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV)- A U.S Navy Seabee Diver who is currently stationed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport was just named 2026 USO Sailor of the Year.

WXXV News 25’s Brynne Baxley spoke with him about the recovery mission that led to this recognition.

Back in March 2025, U.S Navy Chief Petty Officer Joseph Hawthorne and his team were called to an underwater recovery mission in Lithuania. “We got sent a picture of a puddle. This like 30 ft. by 30 ft. puddle. You just walk through it.”

When they arrived, the mission was unlike anything they had done before. Four soldiers were completing a training exercise when their armored vehicle submerged in a swamp.

The tank was still running, making diving conditions even more dangerous. “For these guys to have driven into something like that, it broke my heart, it really did.”

Hawthorne, who has over 17 years of diving experience, led the mission 15 feet below the surface. “Go to a dark room, close your eyes, and put your hands over your eyes. That’s what I saw for two and a half hours. I just remember feeling this wall of sludge and clay and just debris as we were going down.”

Within 48 hours, they managed to recover the four men who had passed away on board.

Hawthorne was named 2026 USO Sailor of the Year for his selflessness and bravery on this mission, but he says he could not have done it without his team. “We weren’t leaving until we got our guys home.”

Although currently stationed at the NCBC in Gulfport, Hawthorne has plans to soon retire.