The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Master Sergeant Reed W. Patchen (ASN: RA-23407634), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of Company F, 2d Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, in action against an armed enemy in Korea. On the morning of 27 March 1953, a platoon from Company F of which Sergeant Patchen was point man, was assigned the mission of assaulting the enemy outpost “Sugar Loaf”, in the vicinity of Ugu-dong, Korea, and capturing a prisoner for intelligence purposes. As the platoon moved up towards the enemy positions, the friendly elements were subjected to intense hostile small arms fire which forced the platoon to seek cover. Sergeant Patchen, realizing that numerous friendly casualties would be inflicted if the hostile fire was not neutralized, completely disregarded his personal safety and exposed himself to the enemy to get to a point from which he could fire his automatic rifle more effectively into the enemy positions. Upon reaching his objective, he commenced laying a barrage of fire at the foe, neutralizing the enemy positions. When the platoon was ordered to return to friendly lines, Sergeant Patchen unhesitatingly moved to the rear and once again commenced firing, forcing the enemy to seek cover and allowing the safe retrograde movement of the platoon. Although wounded in the leg, he stayed on the hill to help the men down and would not leave until all the men were off the hill. Sergeant Patchen’s outstanding gallantry and devotion to duty reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.