The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Elwin A. Sharpe (MCSN: 452976), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Operator of an Angle Dozer of Headquarters and Service Battery, Eleventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, while carrying out his assigned mission of burying the enemy dead on Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 27 September 1944. Quick to act when machine-gun fire from a hostile position located on a ridge to the east of the road ambushed three armored amphibian tractors preceding him en route to take part in an amphibious landing, Private First Class Sharpe hastened to the trapped vehicles. Undeterred by the flames and exploding ammunition of one blazing tractor which was blocking traffic, he acted on his own initiative and attempted to move the burning amphibian vehicle out of the vital supply road. Despite the danger from the flaming gasoline which spilled over the blade of the angle dozer, he finally succeeded in pushing the stalled vehicle off the road. His initiative and coolness in the face of hostile fire reflect the highest credit on Private First Class Sharpe and the United States Naval Service.