The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant John J. Stemkoski (MCSN: 0-32482), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Tank Platoon Leader of the Fifth Tank Battalion, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 22 February 1945. Although handicapped by a rain-fogged periscope, enemy smoke, antitank fire, and terrain pockmarked by deep shell holes, Second Lieutenant Stemkoski pressed home a determined tank attack and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. For a period of one hour after reaching his objective, he voluntarily fought forward and destroyed enemy weapons which he discovered with great difficulty and usually only when they fired upon his platoon. When his vehicle was hit by an enemy antitank shell which killed his assistant driver and wounded the driver, gunner and himself, he directed the evacuation of the other wounded crew members and succeeded in removing all the wounded to safety. He refused evacuation until his unit had been reorganized to continue the fight. His skilled leadership, heroic spirit and untiring devotion to duty were contributing factors in making an advance of four hundred yards, and his conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.