The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Howard Stowe Roberts (NSN: 0-77602), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane in Torpedo Squadron FOURTEEN (VT-14), attached to the U.S.S. WASP (CV-18), while participating in an aerial attack against a Japanese task force on 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Sea. Lieutenant Commander Roberts led his flight of torpedo planes on an attack mission against enemy surface forces consisting of thirteen to fifteen ships, including battleships, cruisers and destroyers, which had our forces under attack in the vicinity of Samar Island, a distance of more than 300 miles from his disposition. In the face of intense anti-aircraft fire he pressed home a vigorous and determined attack on a NAGATO battleship, scoring a direct hit on its stern with a 500-pound armor piercing bomb. His courage, skill and disregard for his own personal safety was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.