The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Platoon Sergeant Lee H. Hardee (MCSN: 297144), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as an Acting Platoon Leader of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-Ninth Marines (Reinforced), Fifth Amphibious Corps, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands, 24 June 1944. Leading his men in an assault on heavily-defended Mount Tapotchau, the Battalion objective, Platoon Sergeant Hardee fought all the way to the base of the last remaining ridge where his company was held up by enemy machine-gun fire. Equipped with all the excess hand grenades in his platoon and a prepared demolition charge, he went forward to destroy the hostile positions and, working his way through the jagged rock, flanked the first machine gun and destroyed it and its crew with the demolitions charge. Unable to cross an opening without exposing himself to the fire of the other gun, he crawled to the edge of the clearing and neutralized the position with hand grenades, thereby enabling his platoon to organize and defend the ridge and assist in the subsequent advance of the Battalion. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Platoon Sergeant Hardee and the United States Naval Service.