The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain [then First Lieutenant] Paul K. Van Riper (MCSN: 0-89001), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Infantry Advisor to the Third Vietnamese Marine Battalion, Gia Dinh Province, Republic of Vietnam on 7 February 1966. On that day two companies of Vietnamese Marines accompanied by Captain Van Riper were pinned down by Viet Cong automatic weapons fire. In order to direct armed helicopter strikes against the enemy positions Captain Van Riper, on two occasions, moved forward with his radio through intense hostile automatic weapons and small arms fire to positions where he observed the enemy and directed air strikes. With total disregard for his personal safety, he marked his position with smoke to orient the aircraft, thereby drawing a barrage of enemy fire upon himself. Captain Van Riper calmly directed and adjusted air strikes until he was seriously wounded in the abdomen. Although painfully injured, Captain Van Riper remained calm, maintaining radio contact with the aircraft, appraised headquarters of the situation and then moved again under intense hostile fire to a designated landing area to be evacuated. Through his efforts the enemy machine gun emplacement was destroyed and the greater portion of the objective area secured. By his daring actions and loyal devotion to duty Captain Van Riper upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Silver Star to Captain Paul K. Van Riper (MCSN: 0-89001), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Commanding Officer of Company M, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 23 February 1969, Captain Van Riper mobilized his Second Platoon and supporting units as a reaction force to assist the Third Platoon which had become heavily engaged with a well-entrenched North Vietnamese Army battalion in the Bo Ban area of Hieu Duc District in Quang Nam Province. Having reached his objective, Captain Van Riper commenced a search and destroy operation across a rice paddy covered with heavy grass and immediately came under intense fire from hostile soldiers concealed in the tall growth. As hand-to-hand combat erupted he fearlessly moved to points of heaviest contact to control the activities of the two platoons and to coordinate fixed wing air strikes which resulted in the death of twenty-eight enemy soldiers and forced the remainder to seek refuge in a nearby tree line which also concealed the North Vietnamese Army battalion command post. Reorganizing his men, he mounted a vigorous attack against the entrenched soldiers, and although his platoons sustained casualties, he boldly exposed himself to the vicious fire as he relentlessly continued the assault to within 100 meters of the hostile emplacements. Forced to break contact because of darkness, Captain Van Ripper deployed his men to more tenable positions and established a defensive perimeter. Throughout the night, he skillfully adjusted a heavy volume of supporting artillery fire upon the hostile fortifications and, the following morning, determined to defeat the North Vietnamese Army battalion which clung tenaciously to its well-fortified position, initiated a final aggressive assault. In a splendid display of dynamic leadership, he led his men across the fire-swept terrain and seized the objective. His heroic and determined actions inspired all who observed him and were instrumental in his platoons’ accounting for sixty North Vietnamese Army soldiers killed and the capture of thirty automatic weapons and two mortars. By his courage, bold initiative and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger, Captain Van Riper nullified enemy plans to establish a major combat base in the area and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.