CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus honored a Worcester, Mass., man and three other members of a Marine special operations team Monday in a rare public ceremony for those who have served in the covert forces.

In a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Mabus awarded ­Marine Sergeant William Soutra Jr. of Worcester the Navy Cross, the Navy’s highest honor and the military’s second-highest honor, for tending to the wounded while guiding the platoon to safety during an ­attack in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in July 2010 that spanned two days.