The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private Francis D. Arterbery (MCSN: 456675), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-First Marines, THIRD Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Japanese infested Cape Torokina Area, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, on 25 December 1943. While proceeding through our lines with a message to the Command Post of his battalion, Private Arterbery encountered a Japanese soldier dressed in a Marine Corps uniform and armed with a rifle. Being unarmed, he feigned ignorance of the enemy imposter’s identity until they were abreast and, in a quick surprise attack, overpowered the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat and took him as a prisoner to his Battalion Command Post. Private Arterbery’s daring initiative and courageous conduct were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.