The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Colonel Donn J. Robertson (MCSN: 0-5839), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as commanding Officer of the Third Battalion, Twenty-Seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, from 19 February to 23 March 1945. When his battalion was pinned down by intense hostile mortar, machine-gun and grenade fire during a sustained drive to seize heavily fortified Hill 362, on 28 February, Lieutenant Colonel Robertson voluntarily left his position in the forward observation post and, moving along the front line units, inspired his men to heroic effort in resuming the attack until they had advanced up the southern slopes and seized the crest of this vitally strategic hill. With the battalion badly depleted by casualties, only a skeleton platoon left as a reserve, and all regular company commanders and many platoon leaders dead, he rallied his tired, depleted units and directed them to dig in for the night before the enemy, in a desperate attempt to split the regimental front, launched a strong counterattack against the left flank of the battalion. Refusing to permit a complete withdrawal, he dashed fearlessly through heavy machine-gun and mortar fire to the imperiled position and ordered an immediate attack which repulsed the Japanese and regained fifty yards of lost terrain. Then, reorganizing his defenses by consolidating the left of his line with the battalion on his left, he remained throughout the night at the front lines, encouraging his exhausted men to hold fast despite overwhelming odds and directed them in thwarting repeated attempts by the Japanese to penetrate the regimental line. A brilliant and inspiring leader, Lieutenant Colonel Robertson, by his daring initiative, perseverance and valor maintained throughout the bitterly fought Iwo Campaign, upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.