The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Colonel John G. Johnson (MCSN: 0-7095), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as Commanding Officer of the Second Battalion, Twenty-Second Marines, SIXTH Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 30 May 1945. During the assault on Radio Hill, east of Naha, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson assumed command of the battalion after the Commanding Officer had been killed and proceeded immediately from his Command Post to the front lines under heavy fire. With his troops suffering severe casualties due to heavy enemy fire to the front and from caves on the right, he quickly reorganized his assault elements and personally directed their attack on the left, reaching the Battalion’s objective by darkness. When his position was threatened by the presence of the remaining enemy troops in the caves to the right, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson again reorganized his exhausted men and directed them in a hand-to-hand fight against the Japanese, thereby securing his position and accounting for eighty-three additional enemy dead. His inspiring leadership and courage throughout were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.