The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Edward Milhem (MCSN: 0-37183), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Pilot of a Fighter Plane in Marine Fighting Squadron ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE (VMF-123), attached to the U.S.S. BENNINGTON (CV-20), in action against enemy Japanese forces in the vicinity of the Kure Naval Base, Southwest Honshu, Japan, 19 March 1945. Penetrating a strongly-defended Japanese sector, Second Lieutenant Milhem overcame overwhelming odds to assist his group in destroying nine airborne enemy aircraft and damaging seven others. When his formation was intercepted by the numerically superior hostile aircraft, he unhesitatingly maneuvered his plane to aid a besieged comrade and, by his courage and skill, quickly destroyed the opposing enemy plane. After his own plane was damaged, Second Lieutenant Milhem repeatedly flew through intense antiaircraft fire to assist stricken planes of his formation, thereby contributing materially to the safe return of thirteen of the fifteen planes, eleven of which were badly damaged. His outstanding airmanship and gallant devotion to duty in the face of grave danger were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.