The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private Cecil H. Evans (MCSN: 351918), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with a heavy machine-gun crew in Company D, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 24 and 25 October 1942. When his squad leader and the remainder of his crew were killed or wounded during a mass frontal attack by hostile forces, Private Evans, manning his rifle from a dangerously exposed position, prevented hostile troops from overrunning the gun position until the disabled weapon could be replaced. His heroic conduct, maintained at great personal risk in the face of grave danger, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.