The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Private First Class Richard Matheney (MCSN: 1095417), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as a member of an Artillery Forward Observer Team attached to the Eleventh Company, Third Battalion, First Korean Marine Corps Regiment, in action against enemy aggressor forces in the Republic of Korea on the early morning of 24 April 1951. When the adjacent unit was overrun and his outpost threatened by the rapidly approaching enemy during a violent attack by a numerically superior hostile force, Private First Class Matheney braved intense fire to man an abandoned machine-gun position and engage the enemy in a vigorous fire fight. Shouting words of encouragement to the defenders while moving continually through the position to meet the hostile charges, he skillfully employed an automatic rifle and successive abandoned machine guns, personally accounting for thirty enemy dead during the furious action and agreeing to withdraw only after he had expended all available ammunition. His indomitable fighting spirit, intrepidity and gallant devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds were contributing factors in prolonging the defense and in obtaining sufficient time to permit an orderly withdrawal of attached elements, thereby reflecting great credit upon Private First Class Matheney and the United States Naval Service.