The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Seaman Darl Boldridge Bell, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism while serving on the U.S.S. CHESTNUT HILL. When a gasoline explosion and fire broke out on board that vessel on 9 October 1918, at sea, Seaman Bell jumped into a wing tank at the risk of his life to extinguish burning waste on the top of leaky cases of gasoline.