The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Private Billie Joe Crumpton (MCSN: 344389), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with a heavy machine-gun crew in Company D, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, during the action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on the night of 24 – 25 October 1942. When his squad leader and the remainder of his crew were killed or wounded during a mass frontal attack by hostile forces, Private Crumpton, although he, himself, was severely injured, gallantly stood by his gun and by maintaining effective fire, kept the enemy from penetrating the sector. Later, after his gun had been put out of action, he remained in an exposed position beside the disabled weapon and resumed fire with his rifle until wounds from exploding hand grenades forced him out of the fight. By his courageous devotion to duty and grim determination in the face of great danger, he contributed materially to the defeat and virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment.