The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class William Baikauskas (MCSN: 552049), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a member of a Machine Gun Squad of Company D, Twenty-Eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 20 February 1945. When his squad leader and most of the squad had become casualties and the machine gun had been disabled by heavy enemy fire, Private First Class Baikauskas acted on his own initiative to brave a withering rain of fire and procure a light machine gun from a disabled tank in front of his own lines. Quickly organizing a squad to man the gun, he kept the men and weapons in action until the mission was successfully completed and Mount Suribachi taken. His inspiring action and courageous leadership in the face of enemy fire reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Baikauskas and the United States Naval Service.