The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 8, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant Timothy G. Kephart, United States Army, for exceptionally valorous actions while serving with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), on 24 March 1967, as team leader of a six man Special Forces reconnaissance team on a combat mission near Dak To. While deployed near a trail to observe enemy activity in the area, Sergeant Kephart detected two North Vietnamese soldiers moving toward his position. He calmly waited until they came within two meters of his position and jumped onto the trail. With his weapon aimed at the enemy soldiers, he ordered them both to stop. They attempted to shoot him, and one of his men, but he quickly killed one insurgent while a comrade shot the other. Sergeant Kephart moved to search the body for intelligence material but was forced to take cover under a savage barrage from a numerically superior hostile force advancing on his position. He saw one of his men wounded by the intense fire and completely ignored his own safety to move to his aid. With bullets striking all around him, he treated the casualty and carried him to safety. He called for rescue aircraft and personally carried the wounded man through a hail of automatic weapons fire to a landing zone. His fearless leadership enabled the team to escape the overwhelming enemy force in the face of grave danger.