The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Private First Class Andrew J. Carter, Jr. (MCSN: 537051), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a member of Company A, First Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 3 March, 1945. When his forward position was attacked by twelve marauding Japanese just before dawn, Private First Class Carter skillfully shot and killed four of them and, with a comrade remaining on guard, rushed through the darkness to a nearby foxhole to replace his jammed rifle. Subsequently discovering his companion suffering a serious wound which left him physically unable to stop the advance of another of the enemy who was charging the foxhole with a drawn saber, he seized his own bayonet and, while exposed to several more of the Japanese surrounding the installations, killed the attacker in a daring hand-to-hand encounter. Although in severe pain from a serious wound received during the struggle and fully aware of the enemy’s fanatical intent to penetrate the position, Private First Class Carter remained at his wounded companion’s side until daybreak, surrounded by the bodies of twelve Japanese, five of whom he personally had killed in his gallant defense of his Company Command Post. By his fortitude, aggressive fighting spirit and unfaltering devotion to duty, he upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.