The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain David French Boyd, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as District Commander, Cherbourg, and Naval Port Officer, Le Havre, and later as Senior Naval Officer at Spalato, where through his prompt, decided and tactful action and his readiness to assume responsibility, Captain Boyd averted a clash between Italian and Serbian troops which but for his intervention would have resulted in a serious and very embarrassing international complication as well as in the loss of many lives.