For heroic achievement while serving as a Squad Leader in a platoon of Company C, Fifth Engineer Battalion, Fifth Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 17 March 1945. Quick to act in an emergency, Sergeant Harris, lacking sufficient demolition men to neutralize an area heavily infested with Japanese forces well-entrenched behind the front lines of our men, personally assumed additional duties as a demolition man and, undaunted by the constant menace of enemy snipers, courageously approached a fortified cave. Taken under rifle and grenade fire as he placed a demolition charge, Sergeant Harris fell, mortally wounded, under the vicious onslaught. His devotion to duty in the face of tremendous odds reflects the highest credit upon Sergeant Harris and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.