The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Joseph T. Smith (MCSN: 1195271), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Radioman of Company G, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 13 August 1952. Painfully wounded in the arm by enemy mortar fire when his unit was subjected to a barrage of hostile fire while defending a key position against a fanatical enemy force, Corporal Smith proceeded to set up his radio and, after receiving treatment for his wounds, refused evacuation and volunteered to lay communications wire from the command post to one of the outlying platoons. Using his one good arm, he moved forward alone and, despite a virtual hail of hostile artillery and mortar fire which fell all around him, succeeded in installing the vitally needed wire. Although suffering intense pain from the shrapnel wounds in his arm, he continued his hazardous undertaking, consenting to evacuation only after completing the communications system by laying a new wire back to the main line of resistance. By his valiant determination, fortitude and selfless devotion to duty in the face of enemy fire, Corporal Smith served to inspire all who observed him and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.