The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Benjamin E. Lewis (MCSN: 515070), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an Automatic Rifleman of Company B, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 26 September 1944. When a Japanese officer and seven men attempted to crawl out of a nearby cave and infiltrate behind our lines by throwing grenades, Private First Class Lewis courageously killed six of them less in the attempt to repair his rifle after it had failed to function as the last two of the enemy were emerging from the cave, immediately threw the stock of the rifle at them. Temporarily delaying the two Japanese, he ran to a comrade in the next foxhole and, grabbing his rifle, promptly killed the two remaining enemy. His outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.