The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain Waldo Evans, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. NEW ORLEANS and the U.S.S. ST. LOUIS, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of transporting and escorting troops and supplies through waters infested with enemy submarines and mines during World War I.