Bernhardt Louis Mueller

Corporal, U. S. Marine Corps

Navy Cross

GENERAL ORDERS:
SPOT AWARD, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 43156
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Bernhardt L. Mueller (MCSN: 820536), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as a Platoon Leader of Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 8 March 1945.
When his platoon was halted by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire which wounded the Platoon Leader and all Senior Non-Commissioned Officers, Corporal Mueller promptly and skillfully reorganized the platoon and, braving intense hostile fire, crawled from one foxhole to another to encourage his men to advance. Wounded while leading the platoon in an assault on an enemy-held ridge which was interwoven with tunnels and connecting trenches, he refused evacuation until the Japanese were routed from the position and thirty of the enemy were killed. By his courageous and unswerving devotion to duty in the face of severe hostile fire, Corporal Mueller upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.