Kenneth E. Moore

2nd Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corps

Silver Star

GENERAL ORDERS:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 6685
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Kenneth E. Moore (MCSN: 0-21503), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Rifle Platoon Leader, in Company I, Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, SECOND Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, from 16 to 23 June 1944.
A determined and aggressive leader, Second Lieutenant Moore valiantly defended a sector of his company's line against the major thrust of an enemy counter-attack and, tenaciously holding the area with a platoon reduced to twenty-two men, braved intense mortar and machine-gun barrages to supervise the disposition of his troops against the numerically superior Japanese in a continuous five-hour attack.
Later in the operation, when concentrated enemy fire prevented contact with units on either of his flanks, he personally led an assault up the nose of a ridge into the face of heavy fire from three machine guns and an unknown number of mortars and, in order to gain high ground for observation purposes, skillfully maneuvered his men to seize the position with the loss of only one man. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Second Lieutenant Moore and the United States Naval Service.