Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Silver Star

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    First Lieutenant (Field Artillery)

    Batallion:

    3d Battalion

    Regiment:

    34th Artillery

    Division:

    9th Infantry Division

    Action Date:

    June 19 – 20, 1967

    Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division, General Orders 5114 (October 3, 1967)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant (Field Artillery) Ned M. Barker (ASN: 0-5420304), United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Battery A, 3d Battalion, 34th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division in the Republic of Vietnam. First Lieutenant Barker distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 19 and 20 June 1967, while serving as an Artillery Forward Observer on a search and destroy mission as a part of Operation CONCORDIA near the village of Ap Bac, Vietnam. As the unit moved across an area of treacherous waterways and open marshland, it suddenly came under an intense volume of automatic and semi-automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior Viet Cong force. Without hesitation or regard for personal safety, Lieutenant Barker began to move forward under the intense enemy fire to a vantage point from which to call for and adjust artillery fire on the hostile position. Although wounded three times in the ensuing action, Lieutenant Barker bravely continued to direct the artillery fire on the insurgents until he was ordered to be evacuated from the battle. Lieutenant Barker’s extraordinary heroism while in close combat with a numerically superior Viet Cong force is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 9th Infantry Division and the United States Army.