The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Private First Class Charles E. McCune (MCSN: 952988), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a Squad Leader and Machine Gunner of Company B, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, on the night of 8 May 1945. Seriously wounded and completely blinded by a grenade which was thrown at his machine gun position by a counterattacking enemy soldier, Private First Class McCune realized the danger to his comrades if he left his emplacement for treatment, and gallantly stayed by his weapon. Waiting until he heard the Japanese directly in front of him, he coolly opened fire and, remaining in this position, continued to operate his weapon with deadly effectiveness, thereby contributing greatly to repelling a numerically superior counterattacking hostile force which had seriously threatened the defense of his company’s lines. Not knowing that the enemy had withdrawn, he waited until several of his squad members had advanced to his position and, in the meantime, killed two more Japanese soldiers attempting to carry back their dead. By his outstanding courage and indomitable fighting spirit, Private First Class McCune accounted for twenty-six enemy dead, and his devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.