The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Private First Class Harold R. West (ASN: 6132794), United States Army, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy, while serving with Company B, 54th Quartermaster Regiment, in assisting in the rescue of a civilian from drowning in the harbor of Boston, Massachusetts, during the height of a hurricane on the afternoon of 21 September 1938. On seeing a man thrown into the water by the capsizing of the boat in which he was riding, Private First Class West and another enlisted man hastened to the assistance of the imperiled man. Despite the violence of the wind which at times exceeded a velocity of 90 miles per hour, making it impossible to stand erect, Private First Class West and his companion, without regard for their personal safety and at extreme peril to themselves, crawled, exposed to the full fury of the elements, for a distance of 1,000 feet along a dilapidated, nail-studded and unsafe breakwater toward the far end of which the civilian was swimming. On reaching the point on the breakwater where the exhausted man was now clinging, Private First Class West and his companion assisted him onto the structure and in crawling along its exposed surface to a point from which they were rescued by the crew of a police boat. The heroism displayed on this occasion by Private First Class West reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.