The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant First Class Vance B. McBee (ASN: RA-6560315), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of Battery C, 10th Field Artillery Battalion, 3d Infantry Division, in action against an armed enemy in Korea. On 27 April 1951, near Hongbok, Korea, while attempting to establish blocking positions on difficult terrain, Company K, 3d Battalion, 65th Infantry, was attacked by a reinforced enemy battalion. Sergeant McBee, who was attached to Company K, 3d Battalion, assisted the forward observer by maintaining radio communications and transmitting fire missions to the artillery fire direction center. When the enemy succeeded in penetrating K Company’s positions, he carried the vital radio equipment to an adjacent unit’s sector and continued his operations. Later the enemy surrounded both companies and Sergeant McBee, after destroying the radio so that it would be of no use to the enemy, fixed bayonet and joined the infantrymen in a counterattack to break through the hostile encirclement. During the ensuing action a group of friendly soldiers, caught in a withering crossfire, became panicky but Sergeant McBee courageously reorganized the troops and led them across approximately two hundred yards of exposed terrain to safety. Sergeant McBee’s gallant and aggressive actions reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.