Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal presented the Medal of Honor to Brother Herring, along with Navy Crosses to eight other officers in ceremonies in the Navy Department at Washington on September 5. Lieutenant Herring also accepted the Presidential Unit Citation for LCI (G) Group Eight.
Assigned to the mission of providing close-in-fire support for the underwater demolitions teams in their daylight reconnaissance of Iwo’s southeastern landing bases on February, 17, 1945, D-minus-two days, seven of the 12 gunboats of group Eight opened fire on the beaches with all their 20 and 40 millimeter guns. Almost immediately enemy shore batteries opened up on the craft, hitting four in the first 10 minutes.