The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Bernard J. Schmidt (MCSN: 394699), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Machine Gun Leader of Company I, Third Battalion, Ninth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 25 February 1945. When his squad was pinned down by heavy hostile machine-gun fire from an enemy pillbox and the advance of the entire company was held up, Corporal Schmidt set up his machine guns and succeeded in gaining fire superiority over the Japanese although his guns were hit several times, thereby enabling the company to continue its advance to defiladed positions. Determined to neutralize the pillbox, he made his way to two disabled friendly tanks and, locating a rocket launcher operator there, directed him to a position from which the strong point was eventually destroyed. Later, on 2 March, when the squad was ordered to withdraw from a particularly hazardous position in order to escape a heavy hostile barrage, Corporal Schmidt noticed that one of his men was missing after the withdrawal and, immediately crawling back to the original position, located the man and brought him back to the secondary position while under constant enemy fire. His outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.