The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to First Lieutenant Edgar C. Greene (MCSN: 0-25592), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism as Leader of a Rifle Platoon, attached to Company E, Second Battalion, Twenty-Ninth Marines, SIXTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain, 17 May 1945. Assigned the mission of enveloping and assaulting from the rear the bitterly contested Sugar Loaf Hill position which constituted the left-flank anchor-point of the enemy’s strong Naha-Shuri defense line, First Lieutenant Greene determined to advance his platoon through a railway cut. Quickly outlining the boldly conceived plan to his men, he fearlessly took the lead in this daring maneuver and moved into the cut where his platoon was suddenly assailed by a tremendous concentration of deadly mortar, machine-gun and small-arms fire pouring down from three sides. Trapped in this position with two of his squads and separated from friendly lines, he staunchly disregarded painful wounds sustained in the savage onslaught and further exposed himself to the blasting fury of sustained enemy gunfire to reorganize his squads and, skillfully directing the defense of his extremely vulnerable position, fiercely repelled all attempts of the Japanese to close in. ordered to withdraw under cover of darkness, he held indomitably until nightfall when he rallied his weary fighters and supervised their orderly withdrawal until he himself was forced to fall out as a result of his weakened condition. Deeply concerned for the welfare of his men, he ordered them to continue without him and remained alone in the exposed area throughout the night until evacuated by a friendly tank the following morning. By his dauntless leadership, sustained valor and self-sacrificing devotion to duty under critical combat conditions, First Lieutenant Greene upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.