The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private First Class Lawrence P. Bigler (MCSN: 445115), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Machine Gunner in a platoon of Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-Fifth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese-held Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 11 March 1945. Realizing immediately after his platoon had seized its objective, that a group of the enemy was preparing to launch a counterattack, Private First Class Bigler unhesitatingly moved to an exposed position and, quickly taking an automatic rifle from the grasp of a fatally wounded comrade, skillfully employed it in killing seven of the Japanese before he himself was mortally wounded. His alert and courageous actions in the face of grave danger, which enabled his platoon to consolidate its position and to repulse any attempts to drive it back, reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Bigler and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.