James Philip Miller

2nd Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corps

Silver Star

GENERAL ORDERS:
Commander in Chief, Pacific: Serial 35801 (September 27, 1946)
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Second Lieutenant James P. Miller (MCSN: 0-36492), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Artillery Forward Observer, attached to Battery I, Third Battalion, Fourteenth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on the night of 25 February 1945.
Realizing that he could not obtain observation from the position to which he and his battery had been forced to withdraw because of the intense enemy mortar fire, Second Lieutenant Miller, returning alone to a ridge position, voluntarily remained in this exposed and isolated spot to direct artillery fire until the adjustment of defensive fires for the protection of the infantry against counterattack had been completed.
Later that same night, when Japanese mortars commenced firing heavily and accurately on his battery's emplacement, Second Lieutenant Miller crawled stealthily ahead of the front lines to locate the mortars and, after a quick adjustment, silenced them, thereby saving his battery from many additional casualties. His courage, initiative and valiant devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.