The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant George Edward Ford, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane of Bombing Squadron ELEVEN (VB-11), attached to the U.S.S. HORNET (CV-12), in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, on 25 October 1944. Undaunted by enemy fighters which attacked several of his planes, Lieutenant Ford led a flight of eleven dive bombers in a daring strike on a large enemy Task Force in close proximity to our own Task Groups and, penetrating to the center of the enemy disposition in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire, personally scored a direct 1,000-pound bomb hit on a battleship. By his gallant fighting spirit, Lieutenant Ford was instrumental in the damaging of an enemy battleship and two heavy cruisers and his devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.