The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant Earl B. Hailston (MCSN: 0-108635), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Platoon Commander with Company E, First Reconnaissance Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 16 June 1970, while conducting a long-range reconnaissance patrol in a mountainous area of Quang Nam Province located south of DaNang, First Lieutenant Hailston’s eight-man reconnaissance team discovered a large enemy base camp being constructed in a gully. Deploying half his men to higher ground as rear security, First Lieutenant Hailston led the remainder to the outskirts of the camp with the intention of apprehending a prisoner but, while he was observing the enemy’s activities, he heard the sounds of gunfire coming from the site of the security element. Quickly maneuvering his companions backup the hill, he found that the team position was under attack by a large North Vietnamese Army force which apparently had stumbled upon the Marine emplacement while en route to its new base camp. After skillfully establishing a defensive perimeter, First Lieutenant Hailston boldly moved to the point of heaviest contact and delivered suppressive grenade launcher fire which temporarily halted the hostile advance. When the North Vietnamese Army soldiers regrouped and initiated a series of vicious assaults against the vastly outnumbered Marines, he again moved across the open terrain to the point of attack and, fearlessly standing in full view of the enemy soldiers, repelled the fierce onslaughts until the arrival of helicopter gunships overhead. Valiantly remaining in his dangerously exposed position, he directed air strikes on all areas surrounding his men and on the base camp, causing the latter to be destroyed and forcing the enemy to retreat after suffering numerous casualties. By his courage, aggressive leadership and unswerving devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger, First Lieutenant Hailston defeated a determined North Vietnamese Army force without sustaining a single Marine casualty, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.