The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Richard J. Kelly (MCSN: 300139), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company C, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on October 9, 1942. While dangerously exposed to hostile fire, Private First Class Kelly, in company with a comrade, set out to carry a wounded Marine from the point of his injury to a position of safety about a hundred yards distant. When they were almost within reach of their objective, his companion was struck and killed by enemy fire. Undeterred by the hazardous possibility of a similar fate, Private First Class Kelly courageously persisted in his original mission until he eventually succeeded in dragging the wounded Marine and the body of his dead comrade behind a protective ridge. His heroic conduct, maintained at great risk in the face of grave danger, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.