The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Chester P. Novak (ASN: 37703189), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Company L, 3d Battalion, 232d Infantry Regiment, 42d Infantry Division, in action on 6 April 1945 at Wurzburg, Germany. During the battle for Wurzburg, Private Novak, light machine gunner, was firing his machine gun in support of rifle troops moving forward to envelop and knock out enemy machine gun and anti-aircraft positions which were holding up the progress of his unit. Firing from an exposed position on an embankment, Private Novak was hit by an enemy twenty millimeter anti-aircraft artillery shell and was knocked down from the embankment. Although his left arm was completely useless, Private Novak unhesitatingly crawled back up to his embankment and continued to fire his machine gun. His accurate fire silenced a large part of the enemy fire and enabled rifle troops to continue in a further successful advance.