The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Ensign John Samuel Arnold, II, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage as Commanding Officer of the United States Navy Armed Guard aboard the S.S. ESSO GETTYSBURG, following an attack upon that vessel by an enemy submarine on 10 June 1943. When two torpedoes ripped into the port side of the tanker and set fire to the oil-covered deck, Ensign Arnold, his own clothing ignited by he explosive blast, sustained severe burns about the upper body before he could smother the blaze. Although suffering acute pain and menaced by the spreading inferno which swept across the topsides, he calmly ordered the forward gun manned and, with the stricken ship fast settling beneath him, fired one round of ammunition to deter a possible surfacing of the submarine. The last man to go over the side as the vessel began to capsize, he remained in the water several hours before he was finally picked up by other survivors who had salvaged a charred lifeboat. His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Navy of the United States.