The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant Robert Edwin Pinkard (MCSN: 1694158), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Platoon Sergeant with Company H, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Rein.), FMF, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 5 February 1968, during Operation HUE CITY, Staff Sergeant Pinkard led his platoon in an assault against the Hue University Library complex, an enemy stronghold defended by a North Vietnamese Army platoon supported by enemy positions in adjacent buildings. Although painfully wounded in both legs during the initial phase of the attack, he refused medical treatment and evacuation in order to lead his platoon in seizing the vital objective. Ignoring the danger to his own life, he courageously moved to a street across from the building but the intensity of hostile fire prevented the remainder of his unit from joining him. Undaunted by the heavy volume of North Vietnamese fire, he fearlessly advanced through the enemy positions on the inner side of the surrounding courtyard walk and single-handedly assaulted the spider holes and bunkers in the area, killing ten North Vietnamese soldiers and destroying a machine gun emplacement. He then moved to a vantage point where he began delivering a heavy volume of covering fire that enabled the remainder of his men to move into the objective and consolidate their position. Not until he was assured that the library building was secured would he allow himself to be medically evacuated. By his bold initiative, inspiring leadership and selfless devotion to duty at great personal risk, Staff Sergeant Pinkard contributed immeasurably to the accomplishment of his unit’s mission and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.