The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal David J. Lynch (MCSN: 367347), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Company C, First Battalion, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 19 September 1944. When intense fire from hostile machine guns strongly entrenched behind a causeway to the front hit his company during an advance through a swamp, Corporal Lynch volunteered to lead stretcher bearer terms through fire-swept areas to search for the many wounded. Fearlessly exposing himself to the enemy to draw their fire throughout a one-hour period, he insured the evacuation of all casualties to a position of comparative safety. When he was blinded and wounded by a Japanese mortar shell, he ordered his men not to come to his aid because of the heavy fire. By his fortitude, coolness and unselfish devotion to duty, Corporal Lynch upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.