The former Grey's Anatomy star, who plays a Navy captain in TV drama The Last Ship, was gifted with a shadowbox containing the medals and an American flag at a screening of the new season of the show on Friday (12Jun15) in Washington, D.C.

He says, "First of all it was a tremendous honour to have the Secretary of the Navy present me with this.

"It's a shadowbox, it contains his medals and a flag they flew over the Pentagon... There's a certificate that shows that that flag was flown... and a complete book of all his service records.

"I don't have much to remember my father by, but at least I knew exactly what he did everyday when he was in the Navy. So it was a tremendous honour."

Dane's father died of a gunshot wound when the actor was seven years old.