The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Lee G. J. Nockerts (MCSN: 584105), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an Artillery Forward Observer of Battery I, Third Battalion, Eleventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 24 June 1951. When his company was pinned down under a vicious hail of small arms, machine gun and mortar fire from well dug-in and heavily defended enemy emplacements during the assault of a key terrain feature near Inje, Sergeant Nockerts unhesitatingly moved through the intense fire to an exposed vantage point from which he called fire missions to his radio operator. Although the hostile force directed a heavy volume of fire at his position, wounding him severely, he steadfastly continued to direct the artillery, calling down a tremendous barrage which permitted the assault troops to advance and overrun the objective. By his daring initiative, aggressive determination and valiant devotion to duty in the face of grave personal risk, Sergeant Nockerts upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.