The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Frederick J. Birkett, III, United States Coast Guard, for heroic service in connection with the explosion of the T. A. Gillespie shell-loading plant, Morgan, New Jersey, on 4 and 5 October 1918. Lieutenant Birkett personally took charge of rescue work and continued throughout the night while under constant fire from a barrage of shell splinters.