The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Platoon Sergeant Clifton Carter (MCSN: 280402), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company B, First Battalion, Third Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 7 November 1943. Taking charge of a number of men from his platoon and the crew of a light machine gun cut off from the rest of the company and surrounded by the enemy, Platoon Sergeant Carter led an attack which broke the encirclement and penetrated the rear of the defensive area. Unable to return to his own lines because of darkness, he conducted a combat patrol and located a trail used by the enemy for the movement of reinforcements and supplies to the front, where he set an ambush and waited until a party of Japanese approached the position. As the hostile group came within range, he ordered the machine gunners to open fire, annihilating numerous of the group. Immediately moving to a new position, he established another ambush and waylaid and killed several more of the enemy who had come to investigate the firing. At daybreak he successfully flanked the Japanese and returned to our lines. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Platoon Sergeant Carter and the United States Naval Service.