The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant (Field Artillery) Richard J. Steeno (ASN: 0-545732), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with the 232d Field Artillery Battalion, 42d Infantry Division, in action on 6 April 1945, at Wurzburg, Germany. Lieutenant Steeno was acting as Forward Observer with Company B, 232d Infantry on 6 April 1945 in Wurzburg, Germany, when the building in which the Company was located was surrounded by the enemy. Using a 1/100,000 map, Lieutenant Steeno immediately called for protective artillery fire, the first round of which landed within ten yards of his position. To obtain better observation, Lieutenant Steeno moved to the roof of the building, from where, exposed to hostile machine gun and small arms fire, he adjusted the fire of his Battalion on the enemy positions across to the street, completely destroying them and killing more than fifteen Germans. By his courageous action and skillful adjustment of fire, Lieutenant Steeno prevented numerous casualties among our troops and contributed materially to the capture of the City of Wurzburg.