The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Parker O. Pettigrew (MCSN: 0-42286), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a mortar platoon leader of Company E, Second Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands on 22 February 1945. When four Marines were wounded and pinned down by enemy fire in front of the company’s line during an attack on a series of hostile pill boxes, Second Lieutenant Pettigrew quickly organized a rescue team and let it forward. Although the area was covered by cross fire from three of the pill boxes, he coolly directed the evacuation of the casualties, bringing them back to the front lines for first aid without the loss of a single man. His courageous determination and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.