The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Gunnery Sergeant Harry K. Estelle (MCSN: 439939), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Member of a Rifle Platoon of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-fifth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 27 February 1945. When a hostile patrol attacked and wounded several defenders of the Company Command Post, Gunnery Sergeant Estelle crawled from his foxhole, proceeded around to the rear of the Command Post toward the 60-mm, mortar position where a renewal of the fire fight had attracted his attention, he killed another member of the hostile patrol and, still unsatisfied that the enemy had all been killed or withdrawn, continued to search through the entire area before reporting back to the Command Post. His outstanding initiative and courageous devotion to duty in the face of enemy fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.