The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Robert D. Sinclair, United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action as a Squad Leader serving with Company E, Second Battalion, Twenty-eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 21 February 1945. Courageously volunteering to help lead three tanks across five hundred yards of open and level terrain, swept by direct enemy machine gun and mortar fire, and dotted with enemy anti-tank mines, Corporal Sinclair boldly walked upright in front of one of the tanks, examining the route for mines and other hazards. He directed the tank crew by means of arm and hand signals until they arrived in the vicinity of his platoon, which was heavily engaged in combat against a determined enemy force entrenched in concrete and steel fortifications. Despite a painful injury inflicted when the tank backed up and pinned his foot under a track momentarily, Corporal Sinclair remained at the tank, directing its fire against the enemy positions until the external tank telephone was shot from his hand and destroyed. By his personal valor and inspiring devotion to duty, Corporal Sinclair’s dauntless courage enabled the tanks to reach their objective in time to support eh assault; thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.