The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Corporal Robert Eugene Spain (MCSN: 466099), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Machine-Gun Squad Leader, serving with Company F, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, during action on enemy Japanese-held Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 3 March 1945. With the leader and all non-commissioned officers of an assault rifle platoon killed or wounded during an attack against heavily-fortified enemy positions, Corporal Spain voluntarily assumed command and, continually exposing himself to devastating hostile fire, reorganized the platoon and joined his men with an adjacent company. With all communications destroyed, he proceeded across one hundred yards of an area under intense rifle fire to report conditions to the commanding officer of his company and, upon his return to the platoon, carried up urgently needed ammunition supplies. His courage, initiative and self-sacrificing devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.