The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant William Alexander Wright (NSN: 0-121504), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Dive Bomber of Bombing Squadron SIXTEEN (VB-16), attached to the U.S.S. LEXINGTON (CV-16), while assigned to strike major Japanese Fleet Units on 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Wright did an excellent job of leading six planes in an attack upon an aircraft carrier, at which time his own bomb did not drop, whereupon he attempted to release it upon an enemy cruiser, resulting in a probable hit, in the face of enemy air opposition and extremely intense and continuous anti-aircraft fire. His courage and skill were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.