The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Edward Bennett Turner (NSN: 0-98653), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron FOURTEEN (VF-14), attached to the U.S.S. WASP (CV-18), in action on 18 October 1944, while deployed in the northern Philippine Islands. On that date, Lieutenant Turner engaged in aerial combat against enemy opposition and successfully shot down four enemy fighter airplanes and in an attack on a fifth enemy fighter airplane, force it into the ground where it crashed and burned. His complete disregard for his own safety, his skill, daring and determination to overcome the enemy and exemplary devotion to duty throughout this engagement were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.