The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Charles E. Rodebaugh, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight in the Aleutian Islands, 30 December 1942 and 5 January 1943. Attacked by four Japanese fighter planes while his seaplane was on station as rescue ship for United States Army craft assaulting Kiska, Lieutenant Rodebaugh fought his plane so skillfully that 25 attacks were repulsed with only minor damage to his ship. Later, sighting an armed enemy freighter, he maintained contact with the vessel for four hours until bombers appeared to sink the ship.