Serial # 258484
Lone Pine, Montana
Awarded the Silver Star for actions on Tarawa:
GENERAL ORDERS:
Commander in Chief, Pacific: Serial 917 (March 7, 1944)
CITATION:
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Sergeant James R. Atkins, United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a member of the Second Tank Battalion Reconnaissance Party attached to the Second Tank Battalion, SECOND Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, 20 November 1943. Defying constant danger from enemy machine gun and mortar fire while assisting his unit in laying a 1,200-yard lane of channel markers over a shell and bomb-pocked coral reef, Sergeant Atkins valiantly made of himself a human marker in order to signal assault tanks to a successful landing on the beachhead when the floats were carried away by the heavy surf. Then, in the face of almost certain death, he voluntarily pressed forward and conducted a reconnaissance within enemy lines, pointing out targets which could not have been detected from within the tanks and continuing his courageous efforts until he was killed by hostile fire. His relentless fighting spirit, daring aggressiveness and heroic self-sacrifice directly contributed to the success of our forces in that area and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
Sgt. Atkins had a wife in Wellington, NZ.
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Created 1 February 2020
