The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Robert B. Burt (MCSN: 430866), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Flame Thrower Operator of Company G, Third Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 24 February 1945. When the platoon to which he was attached was halted by an enemy pillbox, Private First Class Burt was assigned the mission of demolishing the hostile strong point. As he crawled forward toward his objective, heavy enemy machine-gun fire from the pillbox reduced the protective covering fire of his supporting riflemen to a minimum while he was still thirty yards from the target. Boldly charging the remaining distance to the embrasure, he fired his full tank of flame fuel into the pillbox, annihilating the Japanese gun crew within and permitting the platoon to continue the attack. His indomitable fighting spirit and courageous devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.