USS Ronald Reagan Efficiency "E" award for the West Coast, the first Battle "E" ever for the carrier. "Ronald Reagan" returned to Naval Air Station North Island on 20 April 2007, following the three-month deployment in support of operations in the Western Pacific. On 15 December 2007, the carrier answered a distress call from a cruise ship off the coast of Baja California. An Illinois teenager whose appendix had ruptured while on a Mexican cruise was airlifted by an SH-60 helicopter to "Ronald Reagan", where an emergency appendectomy was performed by the ship's surgeon. USS "Ronald Reagan", with CVW-14 embarked, departed San Diego
Ronald Reagan Heritage award for his support of the U.S. Navy and military in both his film career and while he served as president. Congress authorized the creation of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois in 2002, pending federal purchase of the property. On May 16 of that year, Nancy Reagan accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the president and herself. After Reagan's death, the United States Postal Service issued a President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp in 2005. Later in the year, CNN, along with the editors of "Time" magazine,