The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade [then Ensign] Philip Troub McDonald (NSN: 0-364127), United States Naval Reserve, for heroic conduct, superior airmanship, and utter disregard of personal safety in the execution of his mission as Pilot of a carrier-Based Navy Fighting Plane in Night Fighting Squadron NINETY-ONE (VFN-91), attached to the U.S.S. BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31), in action against enemy Japanese forces in the vicinity of Honshu, Japan, on 13 August 1945. When his section sighted two enemy aircraft during a dusk combat air patrol, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, McDonald destroyed one in a single firing run. Maneuvering into position to attack a second target, he caused it to burst into flames and crash. On a third target, he coordinated the attack with his section leader to destroy an enemy bomber with two short bursts of gunfire. Vectored to a fourth target, he scored many damaging hits from a difficult head-on approach starting fires in the port engine nacelle of the hostile aircraft. Sighting a fifth plane silhouetted in the dwindling twilight, he set it afire in both engines and then pursued it, still flaming through the clouds to within one hundred feet of the water. By his aggressiveness, skill and courage under fire throughout this thirty-seven minute action, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, McDonald contributed materially to the neutralization of a determined enemy attack against the Task Force. His superb airmanship and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.