The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Joseph N. Reed (MCSN: 333861), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Squad Leader of Company L. Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese force on the Assn-Adelup Beachhead, Guam, Mariana Islands, on 21 July 1944. Leading his men in a final assault on the company’s first objective, Corporal Reed spotted a strong point of four enemy riflemen as yet unseen by the rest of the company, and, picking up a wounded comrade’s automatic rifle , rushed twenty-five yards across open ground in the face of heavy enemy rifle fire. Spraying the enemy position as he advanced, he destroyed three of the enemy, then dashed back, procured another clip of ammunition and returned to wipe out the remaining foe, thereby preventing any casualties in his advancing company and enabling his unit to take the objective. His skill, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service.