Samuel S. Blair

Private First Class Samuel S. Blair (Army Serial No. 37536085), Infantry, United States Army. For gallantry in action on Peleliu Island, Palau Group, 3 October 1944. When an enemy grenade landed near a group of five soldiers, Private Blair, realizing the danger to the five men and disregarding his own safety, dashed forward, seized the grenade and threw it away from the group. As he threw it, the grenade exploded and a fragment mortally wounded him, but the five men were uninjured. Private Blair’s quick thinking and exceptional courage without doubt saved his comrades from death or injury.