The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Jesse E. Long, Jr. (MCSN: 858742), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company A, Fifth Engineer Battalion, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 12 March 1945. Despite heavy enemy fire, Private First Class Long was successfully operating an armored dozer forward of the front lines through a deep ravine leading to a heavily-fortified Japanese position when a landslide caused his vehicle to slip too far over an embankment. Although it was impossible for him to move either forward or backward, he climbed out of the cab and, in the face of the heavy hostile fire, ran back to a supporting tank, unfastened the tank’s tow cable, carried it forward and attached it to his dozer, thereby saving his vehicle and completing his dangerous task which enabled tanks and infantry to advance. His ingenuity and courageous devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.