The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Joseph F. Wiley (MCSN: 2324004), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Rifleman with Company M, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, THIRD Marine Division in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On the afternoon of 13 March 1969, elements of Company M were assaulting several fortified enemy bunker positions at Landing Zone Sierra on Hill 461, eleven miles north of Khe Sanh. When the progress of the Marines was temporarily halted by an extremely heavy volume of hostile grenades, mortars, rockets, and automatic weapons fire, and his platoon withdrew down the hill to regroup, Private First Class Wiley fearlessly rushed up the hill with a light antitank assault weapon and attacked an enemy bunker, destroying it and killing the hostile soldiers inside. Unhesitatingly maneuvering back down the hill two more times to obtain additional weapons, and rushing back up to an advantageous position from which to fire on the enemy, he valiantly continued his aggressive efforts while constantly exposed to intense hostile fire, destroying a total of four enemy bunkers, as well as killing the occupants. In one instance, he boldly moved forward and stood in full view of the hostile soldiers in order to destroy an enemy position in which a soldier was preparing to fire his machine gun at three Marines who were in a dangerously exposed position. As a result of his heroic and timely actions, his unit was able to continue the attack and secure its objective. During the renewed assault, Private First Class Wiley was seriously wounded by fragments from a hostile grenade and was subsequently medically evacuated from the Republic of Vietnam. By his courage, aggressive fighting spirit and selfless devotion to duty, Private First Class Wiley upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.