The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Robert L. Waner (MCSN: 338989), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Flame Thrower Operator of Company D, Second Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands on 22 March 1945. When an enemy bullet penetrated the tank of a flame thrower while its operator and a rifleman were advancing to clean out a cave and the flaming fuel engulfed both men, Corporal Waner jumped to his feet despite enemy fire and hand grenades and tackling the rifleman, tore his burning clothes away with his hands. Continuing his efforts in the face of hostile fire, he smothered the flames with his body and rolled the man in the dirt to put out the remaining fire, thereby saving the rifleman’s life although sustaining painful burns himself. His initiative, courage and unselfish concern for the welfare of this comrade were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.