The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class John Kolarik, Jr. (MCSN: 300567), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while a member of Company G, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 2 November 1942. During an advance on hostile gun positions two thousand yards west of the Matanikau River, Private First Class Kolarik succeeded in preventing the enemy from counterthrusting through our lines. As our skirmish line closed in and the Japanese countercharged against his particular sector, he, although dangerously exposed, stubbornly held to his position, killing four Japanese and wounding others by expert rifle fire. By his courageous tenacity in a critical situation, he kept hostile forces from infiltrating through our lines and held them in fixed positions until our support echelon could come to the front.