The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Harlan J. Coit, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight in many missions in the Solomon Islands area from September to November 1943. Lieutenant Coit scored one direct hit and several near misses on a light cruiser and a probable hit on a destroyer. On 25 October, after an extremely difficult take-off from mud-covered Henderson Field, he assisted in silencing enemy artillery and strafing important Japanese ground positions.