The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Adolph W. Novello (MCSN: 931821), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Rifleman of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-first Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 13 march 1945. When his Squad Leader became a casualty and his squad was pinned down by intense sniper and automatic weapons fire from Japanese pillboxes, Private First Class Novello assumed command, reorganized his squad and made a personal reconnaissance of his sector of advance. Locating two enemy pillboxes despite the intense hostile fire, he personally destroyed one by throwing a hand grenade through the port and then directed his men in the destruction of the second. His initiative, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.