The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class William J. H. Krueger (MCSN: 510767), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the First Marine Parachute Battalion in action against numerically superior enemy Japanese forces near Koi-ari, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, on November 29, 1943. Although painfully wounded when a hostile mortar scored a direct hit on his machine gun during a fierce engagement, Private First Class Krueger immediately restored the weapon to operating condition and, refusing to leave his position for medical treatment, courageously manned his gun throughout the entire day of concentrated fighting. His valiant conduct and unselfish devotion to duty under extremely hazardous conditions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.