The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant Edward F. H. Bauer (MCSN: 0-12532), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Executive Officer of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-Ninth Marines (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands, 22 June 1944. When his company was forced to withdraw to a more favorable defensive position, First Lieutenant Bauer secured the assistance of five men to cover the withdrawal and, immediately seizing a wounded man’s automatic rifle, braved intense hostile machine gun and mortar fire to direct them in taking up a defensive position. Working his way forward alone, he silenced an enemy machine gun, thereby facilitating his company’s retirement to a more favorable position with a minimum of casualties. His courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.