Harry Dunn Jr.’s Navy Cross citation

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to

Harry Dunn, Jr.

Private, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve)

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty while serving as a member of the Light Machinegun Section, Weapons Platoon, Company B, First Battalion, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in rescuing a wounded comrade from a perilous position deep inside enemy Japanese lines on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, from 17 to 19 September 1942. Halted by blazing machine guns while patrolling up the right bank of the Lunga River, Private Dunn, along with others, became detached and isolated from the main body of his company. Trapped in enemy-surrounded darkness after the patrol withdrew behind defensive lines, he spent the night in an abandoned Japanese foxhole, killing or wounding three men while fighting off hostile detachments intent upon mopping up the field. Miraculously surviving a critical encounter at dawn by “playing dead” while Japanese troops removed part of the equipment from his body, he discovered a wounded comrade who had fallen behind, administered first aid and carried him back down the river until enemy fire drove him into protective brush. After dark, in the resumption of his flight, he skillfully eluded Japanese patrols by hiding in thick undergrowth along the bank and crawling between open spaces with the wounded man clinging to his back. Having cautiously traversed a distance of two and one half miles, he at last brought his exhausted and suffering comrade within safe reach of the field hospital behind his own lines. His conspicuous initiative in overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles while saving the life of another at the risk of his own was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.