The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Ralph E. Short (ASN: RA-19358007), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of the Raider Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2d Infantry Division, in action against an armed enemy on 26 September 1952 in the vicinity of Chorwon, North Korea. On that date, Private Short was a member of a volunteer raiding party whose mission was to capture a prisoner from approximately four thousand yards behind enemy lines. During the initial contact the friendly force was met with a vicious hail of enemy small arms, automatic weapons, machine gun and grenade fire. Completely disregarding his personal safety, he charged up the hill in an attempt to reach a communications trench leading to an enemy bunker, but before reaching his objective, he was thrown into the air by an exploding grenade, wounding him in both legs. Disregarding the intense pain, he crawled to the enemy position, killing all but a few of the enemy with a grenade, but while trying to kill the rest with his carbine, found that it had been rendered useless, so he had to use his bayonet on them. Receiving the order to withdraw he assisted a wounded comrade down the hill until he collapsed from his wounds. Private Short’s exceptional display of physical stamina, courage and devotion to duty and comrades on this occasion reflect great credit upon himself and the military service.