Serial # 337440
0800 D+1 Back at Col. Jordan's CP nobody is happy. Things are still going badly. Col. Jordan is talking to Maj. Crowe: "Are there many snipers behind your front lines? Uh huh, we have a hell of alot, too."
"Where is my little runner? Where is Paredes?" asks Col. Jordan.
"He is dead, Col.. He was killed right over there," a Marine answers. Cpl. Osbaldo R. Paredes of Los Angeles was a brave Marine. All during the first day he had carried messages through intense fire, never hesitating to accept the most dangerous mission. "Oh hell!" says the misty eyed colonel. "What a fine boy! I'll certainly see that his family gets the Navy Cross." He stops suddenly. The Navy Cross seems quite inadequate now, only a few minutes after Paredes has been killed.
Source: Sherrod, p. 83-84.
Awarded the Navy Cross for actions on Tarawa
GENERAL ORDERS:
Authority: Board of Awards: Serial SPECIAL (May 2, 1947)
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Corporal Osbaldo Rivera Paredes, United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving as Runner for the Commanding Officer of the Second Battalion, Second Marines, SECOND Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, on 20 November 1943. Landing on the beach with the assault battalion, Corporal Paredes defied intense enemy machinegun and mortar fire to proceed to various units to deliver urgent messages and obtain the location of other command posts. Although fatally wounded while returning from the front lines with a vital message, he continued on his way to the battalion command post in the face of relentless Japanese mortar fire and, by his gallant efforts, succeeded in delivering his message and thereby contributed materially to the subsequent neutralization of hostile mortar positions. By his courage and devotion to duty throughout this hazardous operation, Corporal Paredes upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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Created 30 May 2001 - Updated 17 Janaury 2020
