The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Army Award) to Captain Franklin D. Meredith (AFSN: FV-3066568), United States Air Force, for heroism while participating in aerial flight as a member of the 5th Air Commando Squadron “E” Flight, on 28 June 1967 while flying a psychological operation support mission in the Republic of Vietnam. The mission was to be accomplished over an area where the troops were in heavy contact and the cloud cover was below the ceiling called for in normal operations. Disregarding this Captain Meredith located the ground elements and began his psychological operation support mission even with prior knowledge that the enemy possessed at least two .50 caliber and four .30 caliber machine guns. Shortly after arrival in the area Captain Meredith noticed a friendly unit that was pinned down and taking casualties. Captain Meredith contacted the helicopter gunships and with complete disregard for his own safety led the gunships to the target and effectively marked it. There were some 950 widely dispersed friendly troops committed to this operation. Heavy rain had begun and this forced the command and control helicopter out of the area resulting in a loss of communication between the commander and his units. Captain Meredith, seeing the danger of the situation, informed the commander that he would act as his forward control station. For more than an hour Captain Meredith relayed all operational radio traffic. He maneuvered at low altitudes disregarding his personal safety and assisted the units in identifying each other. Captain Meredith continued his mission a full three hours and only left the area when he knew that the command and control ship could again control the embattled units. Captain Meredith’s actions were in keeping with the highest standards of the United States Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States armed forces.