He received this, the highest military honor awarded by the United States of America, for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on October 26, 1942, where, after all of the other Marines in his platoon were killed or wounded, he operated four machine guns, singlehandedly stopping an entire Japanese regiment.
Han fik denne, den højeste militære orden i USA, for sin indsats i slaget om Guadalcanal på Salomonøerne den 26. oktober 1942, hvor han, efter at alle de andre marinesoldater i hans deling var blevet dræbt eller såret, betjente fire maskingeværer og egenhændigt stoppede et helt japansk regiment.