Robert Luther Parrott

Sergeant, U. S. Marine Corps

Navy Cross

GENERAL ORDERS:
Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 43156 (October 12, 1948)
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Robert L. Parrott (MCSN: 820311), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as Fire Team Leader of Company F, Second Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 21 February 1945.
After completing a patrol mission around the base of Mount Suribachi in the southern end of the island, Corporal Parrot's company was ordered to comb the shore line for Japanese threatening the rear of the Battalion from by-passed caves. When heavy enemy machine-gun fire from the cliff halted the company's advance, he unhesitatingly acted on his own initiative to climb the cliff and guide the company beyond the hostile emplacement. With the advance gain halted and a four-man patrol forced to withdraw from attacking the machine-gun position, he charged the enemy position single-handedly with hand grenades and succeeded in killing he Japanese manning the weapon. Wounded during this action, Corporal Parrott, by his courage, initiative and indomitable fighting spirit, greatly aided his company in the completion of its mission. His gallant devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.