The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Edward F. Salter, United States Navy, for heroic conduct in rescuing a three-year old boy from a burning Quonset hut at Bucknerville, Okinawa, on 23 December 1959. Upon learning that a child was still inside the flaming hut after all other occupants had vacated it, Chief Salter quickly battered open a locked door and, despite the heavy smoke and flames, searched the entire building before locating the boy under a bed in a back room. With his escape route blocked by the rapidly spreading flames, he smashed a bedroom window, handed the child to safety, and escaped himself moments before the building became completely engulfed in flames.