The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lonnie B. Stokes (MCSN: 306858), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the First Marine Parachute Battalion in action against numerically superior enemy Japanese forces near Koi-ari, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, on November 29, 1943. When his advancing squad was suddenly hit by withering enemy ground and sniper fire, Sergeant Stokes immediately maneuvered his men into positions most effective for returning the hostile fire and coolly directed their efforts. Observing that three members of his squad were severely wounded during the action, he unhesitatingly risked his life to remove them to the battalion aid station, repeatedly passing through known enemy machine-gun fire lanes. The courageous conduct and unselfish devotion to duty displayed by Sergeant Stokes in the face of grave peril were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.