“For outstanding heroism in action as a Fighter Direction Ship on Radar Picket Station Number 4, sixty miles northeast of Okinawa Transport Area, April 6–7, 1945. Fighting valiantly against more than fifty enemy aircraft making repeated savage attacks, the U.S.S. BENNETT sent up barrages of antiaircraft fire during a prolonged and furious air-sea battle commencing on the early morning of April 6. When two of our destroyers on near-by radar picket stations were severely damaged and left in a sinking condition on the evening of April 6, the BENNETT closed them to assist in combing the area for survivors. While continuing her rescue work, she beat off repeated attacks throughout the night and, with her own gunfire and that of the fighter aircraft which she was directing, destroyed a total of seventeen enemy aircraft, successfully avoiding damage to herself until the following morning. With her supply of ammunition seriously reduced, she was crashed by a fiercely burning Kamikaze whose bomb exploded with devastating effect and, although badly holed below the waterline and in the engineering spaces, succeeded in returning to port under her own power. A seaworthy, fighting ship, the BENNETT, her officers and men rendered invaluable service during a hazardous mission and upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Services.”