The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Gunner’s Mate Second Class Charlie C. Poole, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving on the U.S.S. DOWNES. While that vessel was scouting off the West Coast of Ireland, in a heavy gale on 7 October 1918, a sea broke on the stern, spreading the depth charge tracks and dislodging a number of depth charges, which became a menace to the ship. Gunner’s Mate Second Class Poole, with an officer and other enlisted men, at once undertook to secure the bombs, at great personal risk to themselves, as the seas were breaking over the stern, and finally succeeded.