The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Leonard W. Bieganski (MCSN: 321466), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Leader of a Stretcher Bearer Team of Company B, First Battalion, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 11 June 1945. While organizing and dispatching stretcher bearer teams and checking the company’s lines for casualties, Private First Class Bieganski made repeated trips across a fire-swept zone to remove casualties and, returning to the lines with smoke grenades, covered the evacuation of additional wounded. By his initiative and courage, he assisted in the evacuation of at least seven seriously wounded men, and his devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.