The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Gunnery Sergeant Jack F. Kelly (MCSN: 291221), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Commander of a Flame Thrower Tank with Company C, Fifth Tank Battalion, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 14 March 1945. After receiving wounds in the right leg from fragments of metal when a shape charge was placed on his tank, Gunnery Sergeant Kelly refused to be evacuated since he alone knew the exact location of enemy installations in a pocket of resistance that was holding up the advance of our infantry. Although suffering severely, he refueled his flame gun three times and made three successive trips into the pocket of resistance, allowing himself to be evacuated only after the resistance had been neutralized and our troops had occupied the position for which they had been fighting for several days. His perseverance, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.