The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Alvin V. Mattes (MCSN: 334488), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Leader of a Demolition Team of Company C, First Engineer Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 4 October 1944. When his unit was pinned down by enemy machine-gun fire from a cave in the area, Sergeant Mattes voluntarily proceeded to the cave and placed a charge which closed the entrance, put the machine gun out of action and killed forty enemy personnel. By his courage and initiative, Sergeant Mattes made possible the advance of his unit, and his devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.