The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Jerald Lee Pinneker (NSN: 0-669422), United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during a strike mission against a major Viet Cong stronghold in South Vietnam on 20 March 1966. In the presence of intense enemy ground fire, and fully aware of the personal danger involved, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Pinneker resolutely made two separate napalm attacks, scoring a direct hit on an enemy automatic weapons position with his final attack. In completing the mission, he sacrificed his life when his aircraft was hit by a concentration of enemy ground fire.