The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Commander Harry Eugene Thomas, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE (VA-153), serving aboard U.S.S. CORAL SEA (CVA-43), as a member of the U.S. SEVENTH Fleet, during the period 7 February to 13 August 1965. Planning and coordinating many major strikes conducted by CORAL SEA aircraft against targets in North Vietnam, Commander Thomas, an airborne strike leader, was the first to arrive on target, positively identify it, deliver his ordnance and remain in the immediate target area to control and coordinate the remainder of the strike. During this period, he led successful massive air strikes against such heavily defended targets as Vinh, Than Hoa, the Dong Phoung Thong Bridge and the Puc Loi Naval Depot. On two occasions he guaranteed success of the missions by personally dropping bridge spans. On another occasion he led two successive strikes to account for the destruction of two PT boats and damage a third. Particularly effective on night reconnaissance missions, Commander Thomas, using self-developed tactics, was consistently able to locate and destroy enemy vehicular traffic. On 13 August, he lost his life when his aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed while he was leading a small strike group on a low-level mission against an enemy surface-to-air missile site.