The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Bernard J. Seipel (NSN: 6660041), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty while serving as a Medical Corpsman with a Marine Battalion of the FIFTH Amphibious Corps, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Saipan in the Mariana Islands, during the period 15 through 24 June 1944. Around midnight on the night of 23 June, an enemy artillery concentration registered upon the Marine Company with which Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Seipel was serving and soon became very intense. Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Seipel, although seriously wounded by an explosion, left his foxhole immediately, and with utter disregard for his own safety, began giving aid to the thirty-eight casualties sustained by the company, dragging himself from casualty to casualty in the midst of the shelling, treating and encouraging them and preparing them for evacuation. By this outstanding example of courage and unselfishness, Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Seipel set an example to the other men and his heroic conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.