Private First Class
United States Marine Corps Reserve
Donald Ruhl
Citation
Citation
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS DONALD J. RUHL
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the
risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Rifleman
in an Assault Platoon of Company E, Twenty-eight Marines, Fifth Marine
Division, in action against enemy Japanese Forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano
Islands, from 19 to 21 February 1945. Quick to press the advantage after
eight Japanese had been driven from a blockhouse on D-Day, Private First
Class Ruhl singlehandedly attacked the group, killing on of the enemy with
his bayonet and another by rifle fire in his determined attempt to annihilate
the escaping troops. Cool and undaunted as the fury of hostile resistance
steadily increased throughout the night, he voluntarily left the shelter
of his tank trap early in the morning of D-Day plus 1 and moved out under
tremendous volume of mortar and machine-gun fire to rescue a wounded Marine
lying in and exposed position approximately forty yards forward of the
line. Half pulling and half carrying the
wounded man, he removed him to a defoliated position,
called for an assistant and a stretcher and, again running the gauntlet
of hostile fire, carried the casualty to an Aid Station some three hundred
yards distant on the beach. Returning to his platoon, he continued his
valiant efforts, volunteering to investigate an apparently abandoned Japanese
gun emplacement seventy-five yards forward of the flank during consolidation
of the front lines, and subsequently occupying the position through the
night to prevent the enemy form repossessing the valuable weapon. Pushing
forward in the assault against the vast network of fortifications surrounding
Mt. Suribachi the following morning, he crawled with his platoon guide
to the top of a Japanese bunker to bring fire to bear on enemy troops located
on the far side of the bunker, suddenly a hostile grenade landed between
the two Marines. Instantly Private First Class Ruhl called a warning to
his fellow Marine and dived on the deadly
missile, absorbing the full impact of the shattering
explosion in his own body and protecting all within range from the danger
of flying fragments although he might easily have dropped from his position
on the edge of the bunker to the ground below. An indomitable fighter,
Private First
Class Ruhl rendered heroic service toward to defeat
of a ruthless enemy, and his valor, initiative and unfaltering spirit of
self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death sustained and enhanced
the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly
gave his life his country.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
President of the United States
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