The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Specialist Dale W. Stewart, United States Army, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy on 31 March 1967 at the Holiday Inn, Panama City, Florida. A fire had enveloped one of the rooms and trapped Mrs. Darryl Cope of Panama City. Specialist Stewart after seeing the room filled with dense smoke and flames and hearing a woman’s moaning and groaning, ran into his room, grabbed a blanket, and returned to the burning room. As the inside was pitch black, the light switch was tried in order to afford some visibility, but it did not work. Specialist Stewart put the blanket over his face and crawled on hands and knees. Once inside, he was aware that the moaning was not coming from the area of the bed, but from further back. He crawled on through the smoke and intense 350-degree heat and found the woman lying facedown in the doorway of the bathroom. He spoke to her and asked her to get up on her hands and knees and crawl out with him. She acknowledged, but in her semi-conscious condition, could not move. Specialist Stewart grabbed the woman’s hands and pulled her as far as the rug, but her dead weight was too much for him and he crawled back out of the room. Another Field Band member was at the door. Specialist Stewart gave him one end of the blanket and the two of them crawled into the room. The other bandsman grabbed her wrists, and, dragging her, backed out of the room with Specialist Stewart leading the way to safety. The life of the occupant was saved by his quick response to this emergency, and further danger to the building and its occupants was prevented. Through heroic efforts, Specialist Stewart’s actions have brought honor to both himself and the United States Army.