The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Staff Sergeant Bernard J. Bidders, United States Army, for heroism involving voluntary risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy. On 13 January 1944, while on duty at an installation on Clatsop Spit, Fort Stevens, Oregon, Staff Sergeant Bidders was a member of a group of two officers and six enlisted men who, knowing the danger to life involved, voluntarily proceeded out on a jetty in the face of a violent wind which was causing waved to break with great force over the jetty, and attempted to rescue a Navy pilot who had parachuted from a Navy airplane into the ocean. With ever-increasing danger and under constant and severe buffeting by the waves, members of the party succeeded in reaching a point 2,700 yards from the shore end of the jetty. As a result of injuries sustained, they required medical attention. Although the attempted rescue was unsuccessful, the willing self-sacrifice and heroism displayed by Staff Sergeant Bidders on this occasion reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.