The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Hospital Apprentice First Class Augustus Bernard McKee, Jr., United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty while serving as a Medical Corpsman and member of a Naval Beach Party Medical Team landing with the assault forces at the beaches of Normandy, on the Coast of France, on 6 June 1944. Hospital Apprentice First Class McKee, cut off from the remainder of his unit and working under intense enemy fire with utter disregard for his own safety, attended the wounded with such skill and devotion to duty as unquestionably to have resulted in the saving of many lives. His own landing craft having been sunk at sea, he had lost all of his medical supplies before reaching the beach. Working with such meager supplies as he was able to salvage from the dead and wounded, and all the while working under intense machine gun and sniper fire, Hospital Apprentice First Class McKee attended the wounded and comforted the dying with utter disregard for his own safety until help reached him several hours later. By his courage and efforts in behalf of others at great risk to his own life, Hospital Apprentice First Class McKee undoubtedly saved many lives, and his steadfast devotion to duty throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.