Navy citations last week added details to one of the most daring U.S. exploits of this war—the Marine Corps raid on Makin Island, 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii (TIME, Sept. 7). Navy Crosses went to 15 men, among them Lieut. Colonel James Roosevelt. Back in action with his outfit, he got his medal on Guadalcanal last October from CINCPAC Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
Said balding Jimmy’s citation: “Through his maintenance of communications, he was able to inform his own supporting vessels of the presence of two enemy vessels, as a result of which the two enemy vessels were destroyed. During the evacuation, he personally saved three men from drowning in heavy surf.”
Previously Lieut. Colonel Evans F. Carlson, under whom Roosevelt served as second in command, had received a like decoration. For the Roosevelt family Jimmy’s was the first medal of the war: a second was won by Lieut. Colonel Elliott, commander of a photographic unit in North Africa, who received the D.F.C. last month (TIME, Jan. 11).
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