The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Joe B. Sheridan, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight at Salamua and Lae, 10 March 1942. As control bomber in the leading section of a Torpedo Squadron, Chief Sheridan, in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, scored a direct hit on a Japanese seaplane carrier, resulting in the destruction of the aircraft on deck and the disabling of the vessel.