The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Billy J. Driver (MCSN: 337703), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a Rocket Launcher Operator of Headquarters Company, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, 15 September 1944. Waiting until an enemy tank was within ten yards of his position during a Japanese counterattack, Corporal Driver courageously stood upright to fire his bazooka and, fully exposing himself to the intense fire from the tank, succeeded in stopping the vehicle with his first round. Turning to another position, he fired three more rounds from his weapon and, although still under enemy machine-gun fire, halted two more hostile tanks which had penetrated our lines, thereby contributing materially to stopping the counterattack which threatened to destroy our beachhead. Corporal Driver’s outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.