The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Commander Harlan D. Parode, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight while conducting a search for a downed pilot in North Vietnam on 10 September 1965. Commander Parode led his Rescue Combat Air Patrol flight in a search at altitudes of 50 to 500 feet in the vicinity of Vinh, an area known to have one of the heaviest concentrations of anti-aircraft artillery in North Vietnam, for more than an hour. The flight remained over the scene until flak damage to the planes forced a retirement. He accomplished through a visual search in an extremely narrow valley and returned to his carrier with less than 300 pounds of fuel.