The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Major John Smith Hamilton (AFSN: 0-2228034), United States Air Force, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as an A-1E Pilot in Southeast Asia on 6 and 7 January 1967. During this period, Major Hamilton, flying a mission in support of a friendly outpost being overwhelmed by a numerically superior hostile force, braved accurate and intense automatic weapons fire to make repeated low level attacks in close proximity to friendly forces. His flight of A-1E Skyraiders operated in mountainous terrain and hazardous weather conditions to destroy hostile weapons emplacements and troops within fifty meters of friendly positions, forcing them to break off their attack, and continued strikes along their live of retreat over a two day period. Numerous casualties are known to have been inflicted upon the hostile forces, despite repeated battle damage to strike aircraft. As a result of these devastating attacks, the hostile forces ceased to function as a unit. The key outpost, vital to the entire search and rescue alert posture in Southeast Asia, survived solely as a result of these A-1E attacks during the two day period. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Major Hamilton reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.