The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to First Lieutenant David M. Pottorff (MCSN: 0-15275), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism while attached to Reconnaissance Company, Headquarters Battalion, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific War Area, on 18 February 1945. When enemy artillery fire hit the U.S.S. Blessman on which he was embarked, killing the Commanding Officer and destroying the ship’s control and communication system, First Lieutenant Pottorff organized and directed a vocal chain of communication to the engine room and to the manually-operated rudder and thereby prevented the beaching and destruction of the crippled craft. When the ship was bombed twice and set afire while retiring from the area that night, he instantly organized the uninjured Marines aboard and evacuated the wounded and dying from the burning area. Despite the hazards involved, First Lieutenant Pottorff continued to direct the fire fighting parties and prevented the spread of flames to the fantail which housed eighty tons of explosives. His initiative, cool courage and unselfish devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.