The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant David D. Kliewer (MCSN: 0-6386), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity Pilot of a Fighter Plane in Marine Fighting Squadron TWO HUNDRED ELEVEN (VMF-211) during an attack against and enemy Japanese submarine in the vicinity of Wake Island, on 15 December 1941. Conducting a lone patrol mission near the island in an aircraft armed only with four fifty caliber machine guns and two one hundred pound fragmentation bombs, Second Lieutenant Kliewer sighted a fully surfaced enemy submarine and, despite the extreme danger of attempting an attack, promptly maneuvered to a striking position. Fiercely aggressive, he plunged relentlessly on his target and, releasing his bombs at perilously low altitude, scored two direct hits on the hull of the undersea craft which caused it to sink rapidly. With his plane riddled by fragments from the explosion as he effected a sharp pull-out from his dive, he succeeded in maintaining control of the crippled craft and, by his superb flying ability and dauntless perseverance, brought his ship back to the base. By his daring initiative, unwavering zeal and bold tactics in the face of tremendous odds, Second Lieutenant Kliewer accounted for the destruction of an important hostile vessel, and his heroic conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.