The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Franklin C. Robbins (MCSN: 433097), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Squad Leader of Company C, First Battalion, Twenty-Fourth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault and invasion of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, from 19 February to 1 March 1945. Under heavy machine-gun and sniper fire from a ridge cave to the left front, Corporal Robbins with two of his men covering his movements, worked his way to the top and along the ridge until he was directly over the entrance to the cave. Placing a demolition charge in the mouth of the cave, he succeeded in annihilating the enemy troops and destroying their weapons and prevented further use of the cave. When a well-camouflaged pillbox was discovered to be the source from which intense machine-gun, rifle and mortar fire was bearing on his company on 1 March, Corporal Robbins voluntarily braved intense enemy fire to advance in front of a tank and lead it to a position from which it fired on the pillbox and destroyed it. Painfully wounded during this gallant action, Corporal Robbins, by his cool and courageous initiative and his devotion to duty, was directly instrumental in neutralizing an enemy position, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.