The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Bernard J. Dillon, Jr. (MCSN: 505276), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Flame Thrower Operator of the First Battalion, Ninth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 13 March 1945. Advancing one hundred and fifty yards in the face of intense enemy machine-gun and rifle fire, Private First Class Dillon succeeded in silencing the guns of a hostile pillbox and in killing or injuring their crews with his flame thrower. Upon returning to our lines and learning that the company on the left needed rocket launcher operators, he voluntarily proceeded under fire to their Command Post and, braving enemy machine-gun, rifle and intermittent mortar fire, accomplished his assigned mission by destroying a stationary tank with rocket fire. His skill, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.