The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant James J. Mulhearn, Jr. (MCSN: 0-107476), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Commanding Officer of Combined Action Company 1-3, III Marine Amphibious Force, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 13 September 1969, a battalion of the Twenty-First North Vietnamese Army Regiment, utilizing mortars, automatic weapons, and small arms, attacked the village of An Phong in Quang Ngai Province, which was defended by Combined Action Platoon 1-3-9. Informed that the beleaguered unit was in need of additional small arms ammunition, First Lieutenant Mulhearn quickly organized and led a reaction force to the battle area. Arriving in the village, he completely disregarded his own safety to ensure that the vitally needed ammunition was expeditiously distributed to the points of heaviest contact. Learning that one Marine was wounded and pinned down in an area dangerously exposed to intense enemy automatic weapons fire, he unhesitatingly led several Marines in an attempt to rescue their comrade. As the Marines approached the courtyard of a school, they came under a heavy volume of hostile fire and were forced to seek shelter in a nearby building. When a rocket-propelled grenade struck the building but failed to wound any of the Marines, First Lieutenant Mulhearn picked up the seriously injured man and carried him across sixty meters of fire-swept terrain as he led his men to a position of relative safety. By his courage, aggressive fighting spirit and unwavering devotion to duty at great personal risk, First Lieutenant Mulhearn earned the respect and admiration of all who observed him and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.