The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Patrick J. Spillane (MCSN: 378601), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Member of a Tank Retriever Crew of Company C, First Tank Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, 23 September 1944. Participating in an operation to salvage a tank disabled in advance of our lines, Sergeant Spillane braved hostile small-arms fire to dismount from the turret of his vehicle and personally guide it through a Japanese mine field for approximately twenty-five yards. Then, hooking towing cables from his tank retriever to the disabled tank, he proceeded to guide both vehicles back in the face of direct hostile fire and, by his persevering efforts, succeeded in maneuvering them around enemy mines to a place of comparative safety. His courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.