The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Leonard R. Heller (MCSN: 0-12703), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while attached to Company D, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, during the period from September to December, 1942. On the night of October 24 during continuous and dangerous assaults the Lunga Area by a numerically superior Japanese force, second Lieutenant Heller, utterly disregarding his own personal safety, acted as a voluntary forward observer and remained at his post for twelve grueling hours. Despite his constant exposure to heavy enemy fire, he skillfully directed the devastating blasts of the artillery and heavy mortars as well as the operations of his own mortar platoon, thereby contributing in a large measure to the defeat and virtual annihilation of an entire Japanese regiment. His unfaltering devotion to duty in a perilous situation was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.