The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal John E. Meneguzzo (MCSN: 836916), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Acting Platoon Sergeant of Company C, First Battalion, Twenty-first Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 6 March 1945. When one of his squads was pinned down by an enemy machine gun and two men became casualties, Corporal Meneguzzo worked his way forward to silence the enemy weapon and, crawling the forty yards to the hostile position, killed one of the Japanese who was in the act of throwing a hand grenade at his two wounded comrades. Upon reaching the emplacement in the face of heavy fire, he skillfully placed a pack charge against it and destroyed both the gun and the personnel, thereby contributing materially to the continued advance of his platoon and the evacuation of the wounded. His initiative, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.