The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” to Lieutenant Commander Wells R. Bill, Jr., United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Operations Officer on the Staff of Commander Mine Squadron THREE during the period from 3 August 1950 to 15 September 1951. During this period Lieutenant Commander Bill, in addition to his duties as Operations Officer, was Task Element Commander for the Hungnam evacuation, the Bokuko Ko-Samchuck, Yang Yang to Pohang, Chinhae-Masan, and the Wonsan re-occupation minesweeping operations. As Operations Officer, he served in all major minesweeping operations during the Korean Defense and Liberation Campaign and the Communist Aggression Campaign. Throughout the entire campaign in which the mine menace was the primary threat to friendly naval and shipping forces, he has demonstrated ability to improvise and to obtain minesweeping maximum efficiency of the limited forces available. Despite the trying circumstances under which he worked, his superb leadership maintained high morale, esprit de corps, and accomplishment of the task element he commanded. When taken under fire during the Hungnam and Wonsan operations, Lieutenant Commander Bill displayed cool courage and inspired his subordinates with his ability to complete his mission under most adverse conditions. His conduct was at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. (Lieutenant Commander Bill is authorized to wear the Combat “V”.)