The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Dexter Walden Smith, 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 THIRTY-ONE (VT-31), attached to the U.S.S. CABOT (CVL-28), in action against major units of the Japanese fleet west of the Mariana Islands, at a distance closely approaching the limits of the airplane’s range in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire and determined fighter opposition, during the first Battle of the Philippine Sea, on 20 June 1944. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Smith personally scored a direct hit on an enemy battleship and returned to his own Task Group over three hundred miles through darkness. When unable to land aboard a carrier because of fouled deck, and out of fuel, he made a perfect dead stick landing in the water in total darkness without injury to either of his crewmen, although he himself suffered a serious brain concussion. His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.