The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Rudolph J. Varoga (MCSN: 408356), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an Acting Platoon Leader of Company C, First Battalion, Twenty-third Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 26 February 1945. When his Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant were wounded in an attack on a heavily fortified enemy-held hill, Sergeant Varoga assumed command of the platoon and, despite heavy hostile fire, organized his men for a continuation of the attack and led them in an advance of several hundred yards. Although painfully wounded, he refused to be evacuated and, observing to his front a strong force of Japanese troops forming for a counterattack, quickly deployed his men to meet it. When the ammunition supply was running low, Sergeant Varoga moved from man to man and personally directed the fire of the machine guns and automatic rifles in order to gain the maximum effectiveness from their fire. By his quick thinking and coolness under fire, Sergeant Varoga was largely responsible for the repulse of the hostile counterattack with heavy loss to the enemy, and his conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.