The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Lawrence Gonzales (MCSN: 469116), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company B, Fifth Tank Battalion, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 24 March 1945. Courageously dismounting from his tank approximately one hundred fifty yards beyond friendly lines, Sergeant Gonzales courageously adjusted tow cables on a disabled tank stranded in a narrow defile flanked by cliffs from which Japanese were throwing hand grenades. Despite intense hostile small-arms fire and grenades, he coolly moved back and forth to secure the tow lines and towed the disabled vehicle for fifty yards until the cable broke. Leaving his tank again, Sergeant Gonzales fastened two more cables to the disabled vehicle and towed it to a position which permitted evacuation of the crew. His boldness, initiative and presence of mind in the face of great danger were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.