The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Henry Willett Hoyt, United States Navy, for heroism and devotion to duty in the line of his profession, while serving on the U.S.S. HUNTINGTON. When that vessel arrived in the War Zone on 17 September 1917, Lieutenant Hoyt went up as Observer in a captive balloon, known to be of an unsatisfactory type, and notwithstanding the danger, remained in the balloon during rain squalls followed by a stiff breeze, which caused the balloon to descend and deflate, rendering it unstable. The balloon was reeled in, but rolled about and pitched violently, injuring the observer, and finally the basket dragged under water. Lieutenant Hoyt was finally rescued from his desperate position by an enlisted man who went overboard from the ship.