The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Lafayette J. Mattingly (MCSN: 344076), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Wire Chief of Battery E, Second Battalion, Eleventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, 27 September 1944. Observing a Marine seriously wounded by mortar fragments and unable to move from his exposed position behind the turret of a tank, Corporal Mattingly immediately proceeded to rescue the wounded man and, undaunted by intense enemy mortar and rifle fire, evacuated him to a place of comparative safety in the rear and secured medical attention for his wounds. By his courage, initiative and unselfish actions, Corporal Mattingly upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.