The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class John Chudio (MCSN: 291749), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while a member of the First Service Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands on the night of October 15, 1942. Under tremendous hostile bombardment, Private First Class Chudio, when a close shell burst caved in a dugout and buried two of his comrades, unhesitatingly left his own shelter and exposed himself to enemy fire in response to their cries for help. Quickly removing sandbags and other suffocating debris which pinned them down in a narrow enclosure of dust and smoke, he successfully extricated the two men and led them back to the safety of his own dugout. By his courageous initiative, maintained at great risk in the face of grave danger, he undoubtedly saved the lives of two men who might otherwise have perished.