The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Bruce B. Toland (MCSN: 380564), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Battery D, Second Battalion, Tenth Marines, SECOND Marine Division during action against enemy Japanese forces at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands on the night of 23 November 1943. When two Japanese soldiers infiltrated his sector and crawled into a foxhole occupied by two Marines shooting one in the arm and bayoneting the other, Private First Class Toland, upon hearing the commotion, fearlessly risked his life to aid his comrades. With one of the enemy making his escape as he approached and his rifle failing as he attempted to shoot he engaged the second Japanese soldier in hand-to-hand combat and succeeded in killing him. Then, despite the danger of being fired upon by friendly sentries in the darkness or the possibility of attack by the enemy, he assisted in carrying the wounded men to an aid station for prompt medical attention. By his daring initiative, great personal valor and self-sacrificing efforts on behalf of others, Private First Class Toland served as an inspiration to those with whom he served and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.