The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Irving H. Stewart (MCSN: 0-31793), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Rifle Platoon Leader of Company A, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault on enemy-held Peleliu, Palau Islands, 15 September 1944. Painfully wounded by enemy machine-gun fire as he left a stranded amphibian tractor, Second Lieutenant Stewart braved the intense hostile machine-gun fire to direct the movement of his troops across a drying reef to the beach. Although weak from loss of blood upon arrival at the beach, he directed his men through an intense enemy mortar barrage to positions affording some cover. Only until the safety of his men had been insured did he consent to be evacuated. By his outstanding courage and unwavering devotion to duty, Second Lieutenant Stewart served as a constant inspiration to the men under his command, and his conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.