Oran Dan Jones, Jr.

Private 1st Class, U. S. Marine Corps

Silver Star

GENERAL ORDERS:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 86000
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Oran D. Jones (MCSN: 566927), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an Ammunition Carrier in a Machine Gun Section of Company E, Second Battalion, Twenty-second Marines, SIXTH Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces at Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, on 13 May 1945.
Upon observing enemy troops seeking an attack on the right flank of our forces then organizing a night defense, Private First Class Jones led an attack against the threatening Japanese force. Although painfully wounded at the outset by enemy grenade fragments, he unhesitatingly grasped an automatic rifle from a casualty and, rallying a small band of Marines, led them to a direct assault on the advancing Japanese.
Charging and firing on the enemy with a fierce and relentless determination, he aided his men in killing a number of the Japanese and in driving the remainder away in panic, thus eliminating a threat on the company's flank. By his courage and initiative, Private First Class Jones upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.