Harry Moore Beckelman

1st Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corps

Silver Star

GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant [then Warrant Officer Harry M. Beckelman (MCSN: 219064), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Platoon Leader of an Engineer Platoon of Company C, First Battalion, Nineteenth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Guam, Marianas Islands, 27 and 31 July 1944.
On 27 July while on a tank security mission with six tanks attached to a battalion then in an assault against strong enemy resistance in the Mount Tenjo Area, Marine Gunner Beckelman skillfully led his platoon in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy which resulted in capturing four active hostile mortar positions, burning out several enemy-occupied bunkers and caves with flame throwers and destroying a large number of Japanese troops.
While supervising the building of a road from the rear area to the front on 31 July, he discovered that a big Army and Marine Corps artillery and tank movement heading along the beach to Agana could not progress because facilities at the mouth of the river were almost impassable and, as a result, vehicles were standing in line for hundreds of yards unable to get through. Using part of his platoon and engineer equipment, he acted on his own initiative to open up a new route over the mountains, making it possible for the movement to be completed by nightfall on the same day.
By his technical skill, ingenuity and courageous devotion to duty in the face of grave peril, he contributed materially to the success of our forces in this area and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.