The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private Salvatore A. DeCataldo (MCSN: 953492), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Platoon Runner of Company A, First Battalion, Twenty-fifth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. When his platoon’s advance was halted by enfilading automatic fire from a hostile pillbox on the right flank, Private DeCataldo and three others of his group courageously charged the enemy position and, surprising the Japanese upon entering the pillbox, succeeded in bayoneting all four occupants. By his bravery, initiative and devotion to duty in the face of heavy enemy mortar and rocket fire during this action, he aided materially in enabling the front lines to move forward at a critical time of the assault, and his conduct upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.