(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: Captain Philip Niekum, Jr., United States Navy, was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commander of an Amphibious Tractor Group and later of a Demonstration Tractor Flotilla during action against the Japanese at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Ibeya Shima and Aguni Shima, from February 1945 to June 1945.