The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star (Army Award) to Sergeant [then Corporal] Lorren L. Abbe (MCSN: 644747), United States Marine Corps, for gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force while serving with Company F, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against the enemy in Korea. On 1 March 1951, near Hongchon, Korea, Sergeant Abbe, squad leader, led his rifle squad across a ridge exposed to intense rifle and machine gun fire in an effort to assist another platoon in taking a steep hill defended by an entrenched enemy force. Upon reaching the lower slope of the objective, only seven men from the other platoon remained effective. After reorganization of the platoon, Sergeant Abbe led an assault echelon in an attempt to take the crest of the hill. A barrage of enemy grenades killed, wounded, and dazed most of the platoon and pinned down Sergeant Abbe’s assault squad about forty feet from the crest of the ridge. Although dazed by grenades and painfully wounded in the face by shrapnel, Sergeant Abbe with absolute disregard for his own personal safety went from fire team to fire team reorganizing the men and directing the evacuation of wounded. During this time he was exposed to savage small arms and automatic weapons fire. On the final and successful assault, Sergeant Abbe led a flanking attack which secured the ridge, on which members of his squad killed or wounded nine enemy as they fled down the reverse slope and across a ravine to another fortified position. In the entire action, Sergeant Abbe’s squad inflicted five killed and twenty-six wounded casualties upon the enemy, while suffering one killed and one wounded among its own forces. Sergeant Abbe’s cool and unselfish leadership in the face of almost certain death and a fanatical enemy was a source of inspiration to all members of his command.