The award was announced by the British Ministry of Defence on December 15, 2006. He received the award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on March 21, 2007. After which Chesarek reflected on his lost comrades and brothers in arms saying:I am greatly honored and would like to accept this prestigious award for 847 NAS in memory of Lt. Cmdr. Darren Chapman (Royal Navy), Capt. David Dobson (Army Air Corps), and Marine Paul Collins (Royal Marines), who were killed in action over Basrah in May 2006, He continued:The awarded actions were only possible due to the combined effort of my combat crew; Lt. David Williams (Royal Navy) and Lance Cpl. Max Carter (Royal Marines). My greatest sense of achievement that day is in knowing the ground troops all made it home. Michelle Norris, the young British medic who initially aided Page, received her Military Cross (the first woman to do so) at the same ceremony. Chesarek is the first US serviceman to receive this significant British decoration (roughly equivalent to the Silver Star as the third-tier gallantry/valor decoration) since the end of the Korean War.