The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain (Infantry) Benjamin F. Stith, Jr. (ASN: 0-1304631), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, in action against an armed enemy in Korea. On 20 May 1951, near Pungam-ni, Korea, Captain Stith, located in the battalion observation post, saw that a heavy volume of enemy automatic weapons fire was halting the 3d Battalion’s advance and forcing the troops to desperately seek cover. Knowing the critical importance of keeping the unit moving, Captain Stith unhesitatingly dashed forward through the enemy fire urging the troops to continue the assault. Witnessing Captain Stith’s dauntless actions the men vigorously renewed the advance and proceeded slowly and unfalteringly to close in on the enemy inflicting many casualties. Noting that a steady and vicious stream of fire from a number of concealed hostile automatic weapons was seriously hampering the drive, Captain Stith moved forward in an effort to locate these emplacements. Having proceeded only a short way, he was wounded and knocked down, but recovering from the initial shock, he rose from the ground and locating the source of fire, returned to the observation post to report his findings, which enabled an effective artillery barrage to be placed on those emplacements completely neutralizing their effectiveness. Still without medical attention, Captain Stith walked a considerable distance to obtain litter jeeps and guide them in their evacuation of the wounded. Discovering that a wounded officer was lying across a nearby stream under heavy fire, Captain Stith waded through the waist-deep stream to evacuate him, only to discover that the man had died. Returning to the scene of battle, he supervised the evacuation of all the wounded before receiving any personal medical assistance. Captain Stith’s extreme gallantry and superb physical stamina reflects the highest credit upon himself and the military service.