The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Charles F. Ard (MCSN: 457124), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a Tank-Dozer Commander of the First Tank Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 14 June 1945. Wounded by an enemy sniper while constructing a tank by-pass over a stream with a tank-bulldozer in hostile territory, Corporal Ard refused to be evacuated and ordered one of the crew to bandage his wound and administer morphine. Disregarding continued hostile mortar and machine-gun fire, he supervised the completion of the by-pass, which gave combat tanks entrance to strongly-fortified Japanese positions, and later, as friendly troops attacked these positions, covered them by fire from his tank-bulldozer. After completing his mission, Corporal Ard dismounted from his vehicle while under heavy hostile mortar and small-arms fire to evacuate six wounded infantrymen from the field and then carried them in his bulldozer to the safety of an aid station. Only then did he allow himself to be treated and evacuated. By his outstanding courage and determination under fire, Corporal Ard contributed materially to the successful completion of the attack, and his devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.