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 pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Staff Sergeant Francis Marion Logan, III (ASN: RA-462705977), United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force while serving with Detachment A-403, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, in the Republic of Vietnam. Staff Sergeant Logan distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 4 November 1969, while serving as advisor to a company of Vietnamese strike force troops during operations on Nui Coto Mountain. Sergeant Logan was moving his men toward a position on the mountain in order to reinforce friendly elements besieged by a battalion of North Vietnamese regulars. As he and his men advanced through the rocky terrain about the mountain, they suddenly came under intense sniper and machine gun fire. Seeing his men pinned down and forward progress halted, Sergeant Logan made his way among his troops pointing out targets and directing fire on the attackers. Once his troops had gained fire superiority, Sergeant Logan led them to the position of their battered comrades. There he deployed them into a defensive perimeter and prepared them to ward off further enemy assaults. When informed that two American advisors lay seriously wounded in an open field some two hundred meters distant, Sergeant Logan quickly gathered up medical supplies and began making his way to the soldiers. He descended a rocky slope under fire from enemy riflemen and came to an open field which separated him from the wounded. In full view of the enemy now, Sergeant Logan dashed through the open as they unleashed the full force of their firepower at him. Sergeant Logan was severely wounded in the enemy fusillade, but he stubbornly pressed on and managed to reach his wounded comrades. Although weak and on the verge of collapse from his own injury, Sergeant Logan selflessly attended to the wounds of his fellow soldiers. Shortly thereafter Sergeant Logan expired from his wound, but not before he had successfully completed his mission of mercy. Staff Sergeant Logan’s gallantry in action, at the cost of his life, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.