Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    First Lieutenant (Infantry), [then Second Lieutenant]

    Batallion:

    1st Battalion

    Regiment:

    325th Glider Infantry Regiment

    Division:

    82d Airborne Division

    Action Date:

    June 9, 1944

    Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps, General Orders No. 11 (December 9, 1944)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Infantry), [then Second Lieutenant] Paul S. Kinsey, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, in action against enemy forces on 9 June 1944, at Amfreville, France. In the early morning hours, First Lieutenant Kinsey and his company had become engaged at close quarters with an enemy artillery unit supported with infantry. While his platoon was pinned down by flanking automatic weapons fire, First Lieutenant Kinsey, although limping badly from a leg wound, stepped into a road swept by fire, personally halted, and then engaged an enemy truck of reinforcements which was closing in along the road toward his platoon. The assistant driver of the truck opened fire with a submachine gun. First Lieutenant Kinsey, in spite of this fire, moved quickly forward, seized the barrel of the submachine gun, and dropped a grenade into the cab of the truck, setting it on fire and destroying the driver and his assistant. Although knocked back by the explosion, First Lieutenant Kinsey, hearing cries and movement in the rear of the truck, recovered his and completed the destruction of the truck and the remainder of its occupants with a rifle grenade. First Lieutenant Kinsey’s act kept open a route of maneuver for his platoon and enabled his unit to inflict additional damage on the enemy. In performing this act, First Lieutenant Kinsey exemplified the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflected great credit upon himself, the 82d Airborne Division, and the United States Army.