The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Hospital Corpsman Third Class Lawrence Everett Johnson (NSN: 5140638), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Corpsman attached to the Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, on 4 March 1966, during Operation UTAH in the Republic of Vietnam. With casualties mounting when his platoon was subjected to heavy enemy mortar and automatic weapons fire shortly after the company had secured the high ground dominating the right flank of the battalion’s zone of action, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Johnson, in the face of intense fire, unhesitatingly moved from one casualty to another, rendering aid and comfort and supervising the evacuation. When one of the squad leaders was seriously wounded, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Johnson attempted to keep the man alive by administering mouth to mouth resuscitation while moving the patient some three hundred yards under fire to the point of evacuation. During a later enemy counterattack, he observed another wounded Marine to his front and, despite the onrushing enemy, attempted to reach the victim but was struck down by enemy fire. In sacrificing his own life to save the lives of others, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Johnson displayed outstanding courage and a selfless devotion to duty, in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.