The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Martin C. Sibitzky, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession as a diver during the rescue and salvage operations following the sinking of the U.S.S. SQUALUS on 23 May 1939. Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Sibitzky was the first diver to go down to the stricken SQUALUS. He secured the rescue chamber downhaul to the forward torpedo room escape hatch and cleared the hatch while working at a depth of 220 feet in water at a low temperature. The extremely skillful work on this first dive resulted in marked expedition of the whole rescue operations and contributed greatly to its ultimate success.