The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant Leonard D. Davis, United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Battery C, 9th Field Artillery Battalion, 3d Infantry Division, in action against the enemy in Sicily, in August 1943. When an enemy battery scored direct hits on two four-ton ammunition trucks, the entire area for a radius of 100 yards was filled with exploding shell fragments and enemy projectiles were dropping at the rate of one a minute. Staff Sergeant Davis, heedless of his own safety, leaped in a blazing communications truck and drove out of the danger area and extinguished the blaze. Staff Sergeant Davis’s cool and dauntless courage under fire saved the truck with its vital signal equipment. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.