The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Virgil L. Lane (MCSN: 886902), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Rifleman of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 12 March 1945. When the advance of his company was held up by heavy hostile fire, Private First Class Lane crawled forward of the front lines to locate the exact position of the Japanese defensive positions and, upon finding them, returned to his platoon leader to suggest that tanks be used. When the tanks arrived, he entered one of them to guide the armored vehicles against the enemy emplacements and, although knocked out by a blast from the enemy that stunned the other occupants of the tank, he refused evacuation upon gaining consciousness and continued to direct the fire of the tank until all the enemy in the vicinity had been destroyed. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Land and the United States Naval Service.