The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant William A. McAtee (MCSN: 412123), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Squad Leader of Company F, Second Battalion, Sixth Marines, SECOND Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Tinian, Mariana Islands, 2 August 1944. Serving as a member of a platoon called to assist in the defense of the Battalion Command Post against approximately one hundred attacking Japanese, Sergeant McAtee led his squad behind a medium tank until communications with the tank by telephone were disrupted. Undaunted by the intense machine-gun fire, he climbed to an exposed position on top of the tank, struck the hatch door with the butt of his rifle and, after the Tank Commander opened the hatch, directed the vehicle to a position where the tank could annihilate the enemy, shield the evacuation of casualties and protect the Command Post. By his gallant initiative and heroic actions, he contributed materially to the repulse of the Japanese, and his devotion to duty throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.