The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Charles B. Jewell (MCSN: 816638), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the Fourth Tank Battalion, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. As the only survivor of a tank beach reconnaissance team, Corporal Jewell was in large measure responsible for five tanks landing and moving inland at a critical period of attack. When a landing ship arrived at the beach and was unable to discharge its tanks because of the extremely soft sand, he courageously rushed on board although the vessel was receiving hits by heavy shellfire and, contacting the Captain on the bridge, was able to direct the ship to another point eight hundred yards away where the terrain would permit tanks to land. When the tanks were discharged, he courageously crawled through intense shellfire to guide them inland from the beach around numerous shell holes and antitank ditches to the vicinity of the airfield. By his initiative, aggressive fighting spirit and presence of mind, Corporal Jewell upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.