The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Corporal Thomas Lee Blevins, Jr. (MCSN: 2255036), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Squad Leader with Company C, First Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines, Ninth Marine Amphibious Brigade, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 31 May 1969, while Corporal Blevins maneuvered his squad as the point element of a company-sized search and destroy operation in Quang Nam Province, the Marines came under a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire from a large enemy force occupying well-concealed, fortified emplacements. Observing that three of his men had been wounded and had fallen in an unprotected area close to the hostile positions, Corporal Blevins unhesitatingly left his relatively secure position and ran across the fire-swept terrain to the side of his companions. After kneeling in a dangerously exposed position to administer first aid to one of his comrades, he removed the man to waiting medical attention behind the friendly line. He then again braved the hostile fire raking the area and, after administering brief emergency treatment to the second wounded Marine, moved him back to the company’s defensive perimeter. When he raced to the aid of the third man, they both became pinned down by concentrated enemy fire. Corporal Blevins, in full view of the enemy troops, hurled a hand grenade which diverted their attention sufficiently to allow him time to move the injured Marine to safety, but before he could attain a covered position himself, he was mortally wounded by small-arms fire. His heroic efforts and selfless concern for his fellow men inspired all who observed him and were instrumental in saving the lives of three Marines. By his courage, aggressive fighting spirit and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Blevins upheld the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.