Lester E. Power

The Navy Cross is presented to Lester E. Power, First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while in command of a patrol of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua, on 15 June 1931. When attacked by vastly superior forces, Lieutenant Power placed his patrol in position to successfully defend itself until its ammunition was exhausted, and after being seriously wounded while attempting to relieve a stoppage in a Browning Automatic Rifle, he continued to encourage the Guardia until he was killed by a burst of machine gun fire. Spurred on by Lieutenant Power’s sterling, soldierly qualitation, the Guardia patrol kept up a terrific return of the bandits’ fire, inflicting considerable damage to them, including seven dead, until the guardia’s ammunition was completely exhausted.