The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 8, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Alan Betterman (ASN: US-54808926), United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force while serving with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, on 20 July 1968, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date, Sergeant Betterman was serving with his armored cavalry unit during a mission to escort an engineer platoon to a laterite pit near Song Be. At approximately 0930 hours, the friendly force was subjected to intense recoilless rifle, automatic weapons, and small arms fire by two companies of North Vietnamese soldiers in well-fortified positions. Sergeant Betterman remained in an open location and placed effective machinegun fire on the insurgents which helped cover the evacuation of his wounded comrades. Contact with the enemy was soon broken, but during the afternoon, a second encounter took place when the friendly force returned to recover some equipment. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Sergeant Betterman braved relentless enemy fire while he put forth devastating fire on the insurgents with his heavy machinegun. He had his driver move to the point of heaviest fighting so that he could best engage the North Vietnamese and cover the evacuation of the wounded. His accurate fire resulted in the death of several of the enemy and was responsible for silencing the fire from a hostile anti-tank weapon. The extraordinary courage and bold initiative displayed by Sergeant Betterman during the two enemy encounters were instrumental in greatly limiting American casualties, and significantly contributed to the heavy losses inflicted upon the North Vietnamese forces. Sergeant Betterman’s unquestionable valor in close combat against numerically superior hostile forces is in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 1st Infantry Division, and the United States Army.