William E. Coleman

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to William E. Coleman (0-2011640), Second Lieutenant (Infantry), [then Staff Sergeant], U.S. Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Company K, 274th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division, on 3 March 1945, near Styring Wendel, France. During an attack upon fiercely defended German positions in a dense wood, when the intense enemy small arms, artillery and mortar fire succeeded in inflicting numerous casualties upon his platoon, Second Lieutenant Coleman, disregarding the severe hostile fire, and despite a painfully injured knee, assumed control of the platoon and led it forward. His aggressiveness, courage, and determination in the face of the heavy German fire and his own injury, so inspired his men that they overcame the tenacious enemy resistance and achieved their objective.