The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Seaman Second Class Robert W. Arbuckle, United States Coast Guard, for heroism while attached to the U.S.S. LST-69 on 21 May 1944, immediately following the first explosion of a Marine disaster at Westloch, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. He voluntarily assumed charge of a landing craft and with a crew of three shipmates maneuvered his boat amid falling shrapnel, burning debris and flaming oil, and rescued a number of persons who had been hurled by force of explosion from their ships into the water. Observing a man hanging on to a trailing line from the bow of a landing ship, he speedily withdrew from the danger zone and closed in, skillfully maneuvered his boat to starboard and backed down to a buoy where a shipmate retrieved the man before he was crushed between the buoy and ship. His consummate skill and total disregard for personal safety were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.