The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade John E. Dryden, Jr., United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during World War II. As Commander of a PBY airplane, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Dryden took full advantage of cloud cover and brought the plane down in a quick attack on an enemy submarine sighted on the surface. Sweeping low to discharge depth bombs and rake the deck, he got the big plane safely out of range before a tremendous explosion lifted the submarine completely out of the water, broke it amidships and completely destroyed it.