The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant John A. Alden (MCSN: 0-12888), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Forward Artillery Observer in Battery E, Second Battalion, Fourteenth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands, on 15 – 16 June 1944. When the senior officer of his amphibian tractor became a casualty shortly after landing operations on Saipan, First Lieutenant Alden took an active part in organizing the defense of the isolated position and in organizing the defense of the isolated position and in repelling the enemy. Despite heavy hostile fire, he successfully facilitated the advance of friendly troops by effectively directing artillery fire on the enemy forces. By his cool courage and unswerving devotion to duty throughout this action, First Lieutenant Alden upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.