Claude M. Ayala

Sergeant, U. S. Marine Corps

Silver Star

GENERAL ORDERS:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 00406 (February 6, 1945)
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Claude M. Ayala (MCSN: 350208), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Commander of a Medium Tank of Tank Company, Twenty-Second Marines (Reinforced), First Provisional Marine Brigade, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Guam, Marianas Islands, 24 July 1944.
Going to the assistance of a tank which had been disabled by eighteen direct hits from an enemy anti-tank gun, Sergeant Ayala maneuvered his tank to provide covering fire for the stricken vehicle. Then, dismounting from his own tank under intense hostile fire, he shackled the two vehicles together and pulled the disabled tank to safety, thereby saving the crew from certain annihilation. His courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.