IRA GOLDBERG

Commander in Chief, Pacific: Serial 34764 (November 15, 1945) The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant Ira Goldberg (MCSN: 0-26193), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as the Leader of a Rifle Platoon of Company G, Third Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 7 March 1945. Waging an attack against a heavily fortified enemy position, First Lieutenant Goldberg was ordered to move his platoon forward to fill a gap in the company front which was open to hostile counterattack. Pinned down with his platoon by withering rifle and machine-gun fire as he initiated an advancing maneuver, he unhesitatingly moved forward of his men and, defying the intense concentration of gunfire, led his forces into a strategic position, thereby enabling them to fill the gap. Although fatally wounded during the fierce exchange of hostilities, First Lieutenant Goldberg, by his valiant leadership and devotion to duty, had contributed materially to the success of the attack and his unfaltering courage in the face of tremendous odds reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.