RM2c Earnest Edwin Daliey, or "E. E." to his shipmates, completed the On-The-Roof Gang training in August 1929 with Class #2. Through a mix-up, he believed he would be automatically promoted to RM1c. When the promotion didn't come, he quit the outfit and went back to General Service radio duty. He correctly assumed he'd have a better chance at promotion outside of the intercept gang. By February 1935, he found himself on board USS MACON (ZRS-5) having achieved the promotion to RM1c he desired. USS MACON was the last remaining dirigible in the U.S. Navy inventory.

The USS MACON and her twin, USS AKRON, were designed by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, and were the largest helium-filled ships ever built. The rigid-framed dirigibles were designed to be scouts for the seagoing fleet, but their reign was brief; they were fragile, slow-moving, and easy targets for enemy aircraft.

As the MACON flew about ten miles west of Big Sur, California on the afternoon of 12 February, she encountered a gale that critically damaged a stabilizing fin. Dailey radioed for help in Morse code. Shortwave operators in San Luis Obispo were the first to hear the distress calls.

The MACON, with a crew of 83 on board, was slowly and uncontrollably losing altitude over the ocean as the sun set. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard patrol craft sortied from San Francisco and converged on the location of MACON’s distress calls. Over and over, Dailey sent the ship's location, remaining at his radio transmitter as others prepared to abandon ship.

Petty Officer Dailey was one of only two men that died as a result of the USS MACON’s crash - a number that could have been considerably higher if it wasn’t for Dailey’s courageous efforts to report the ship’s location. Even though Dailey was never assigned to intercept duties after his On-The-Roof Gang training, for all intents and purposes, he was a Roofer. His heroics on board MACON cemented his standing among the group.