The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Harold G. Boquist (MCSN: 341587), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Rifle Squad Leader of Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-first Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 24 February 1945. Courageously leading his men in an attack on Motoyama Airfield Number Two, where a strong enemy force was defending itself fanatically with automatic weapons, mortars and hand grenades, Sergeant Boquist observed two enemy soldiers attacking a Marine who was wounded and unable to defend himself. He fearlessly rushed to the man’s assistance and killed the first with a butt stroke and bayoneted the other after a savage duel. His outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.