Barney Sterling

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Barney Sterling (300443), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty as a member of a Rifle Company of the Second Battalion, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese armed forces at the Tenaru River, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 21 August 1942. Performing patrol duty and armed only with a rifle when an overwhelming Japanese landing force launched a furious attack, Private First Class Sterling, together with two other Marines, promptly deployed and held off the enemy in their sector by fierce and desperate fighting. Valiantly carrying on after enemy fire had killed one of the group, Private First Class Sterling manned a light machine gun and maintained his unyielding defense of our positions in spite of terrific odds until he, too, was killed. His dauntless spirit of self-sacrifice and his unwavering devotion to duty in the face of great peril sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

SPOT AWARD (1942), Serial 18 (SofN Signed March 18, 1943)