The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star (Army Award) to Second Lieutenant Edward C. Hall, Jr. (MCSN: 0-49867), United States Marine Corps, for gallantry in action against the enemy while serving with a Marine rifle company of the First Battalion, Fifth Marines, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 12 August 1950. On that date, the First Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, encountered and attacked the rear guard of the 83d North Korean Motorized Regiment in the vicinity of Changallon on the Kosong-Sachon road. Lieutenant Hall, leader of the frontal machine gun platoon, was hit in the leg and thigh by an enemy machine gun burst. Suffering three wounds, he accepted temporary first aid but refused to be evacuated. Later, he crawled approximately fifty feet to a machine gun inactivated as a result of casualties sustained by the crew; and, manning the weapon from a position in a ditch filled with rice-paddy water, he delivered destructive fire on enemy positions for a two-hour period, knocking out two machine gun nests and accounting for a number of enemy dead. Despite his multiple wounds and the continuous fire from hostile small arms and automatic weapons, he refused to leave his post, and directed that medical attention and evacuation be completed for the more seriously wounded. Finally he was evacuated, but only after receiving a direct order from his company commander. Lieutenant Hall’s exemplary courage, heroic determination and selfless concern for his wounded comrades is conduct in keeping with the most cherished traditions of the military service.