The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Charles J. Pitty, Jr. (MCSN: 432395), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a member of a 37-mm. gun platoon of Regimental Weapons Company, Twenty-third Marines, Fourth Marines Division in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands on 19 June 1944. Volunteering to attempt the apparently hopeless rescue of several wounded Marines lying exposed to heavy enemy rifle and machine gun fire, Private First Class Pitty and a companion unhesitatingly braved the merciless barrage and succeeded in carrying four of the casualties to safety before the hostile fire was neutralized. His gallant and courageous spirit and tenacious devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.