The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal William H. Dunn (MCSN: 487668), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an Intelligence Observer of Headquarters Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, Fifth Amphibious Corps, Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 8 March 1945. Volunteering his services as a Guide and Scout to the elements of a Marine regiment in cleaning out the caves on Mount Suribachi, Corporal Dunn entered a cave to search for enemy documents and to make an estimate of the damage after a heavy demolition had been set off. Meeting with a volley of hostile hand grenades which failed to detonate, he proceeded into the cave and, encountering two slightly wounded Japanese, subdued them in a hand-to-hand struggle and dragged them both out as his prisoners. Then, reentering the cave, he found many enemy soldiers still alive and annihilated six with his pistol. His initiative, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.