(a) The Gold Lifesaving Medal is 99.9 percent pure gold and consists of a pendant suspended by a swivel from the head of an eagle attached to a silk grogram ribbon 1 and \3/8\ths inches in width, composed of a \3/16\ths of an inch red stripe, a \1/32\d of an inch white stripe, a \15/16\ths of an inch gold stripe, a \1/32\d of an inch white stripe, and a \3/16\ths of an inch red stripe. The pendant is 1 and \7/16\ths inches in diameter and \3/32\ds of an inch in thickness. There appear, on the obverse side of the pendant, three men in a boat in a heavy sea; one is rescuing a person clinging to a spar at the end of which is a block and line; another is standing, prepared to heave a line; a third is rowing; in the distance, to the left, is the wreck of a vessel; the whole is encircled by the words: ``United States of America'', in the upper half, and ``Act of Congress, August 4, 1949'', in the lower half. On the reverse side of the pendant there appears, in the center a monument surmounted by an American eagle; the figure of a woman stands, to the left, holding in her left hand an oak wreath, and with her right hand, preparing to inscribe the name of the recipient on the monument; to the right are grouped a mast, a yard with a sail, an anchor, a sextant, and a laurel branch; the whole is encircled by the words: ``In testimony of heroic deeds in saving life from the perils of the water.''
(b) Engraving: Before presentation, the recipient's name shall be inscribed on the ``monument'', on the reverse of the medal.