The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Williard H. Lenox (MCSN: 840603), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Demolitions Man in a Rifle Squad of Headquarters Company, First Battalion, Twenty-fifth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands, 20 June 1944. Though wounded while attempting to plant a demolition charge in a cave which served as a vantage point from which enemy forces were raking our troops with fire, Private First Class Lenox engaged the enemy in a hand grenade duel until members of his squad could work their way to the opposite side of the cave and clear out the enemy. His courage under fire, unselfish concern for others and unwavering devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.