The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Major Gene E. Bailey (MCSN: 0-76205), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Pilot with Marine Light Helicopter Squadron THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-SEVEN (HML-367), Marine Aircraft Group Sixteen, FIRST Marine Aircraft Wing, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On the night of 28 March 1971, Major Bailey launched as Section Leader of a flight of two AH-1J Cobra helicopters assigned the mission of providing close air support for a company-sized defense force which was heavily engaged in combat with two North Vietnamese Army battalions in the village of Duc Duc, twenty miles southwest of DaNang. Most of the village was ablaze following a heavy enemy mortar barrage and sapper attack. The friendly force was isolated and surrounded in its defensive perimeter by a large hostile force which was preparing for an assault to overrun the Vietnamese position. Arriving over the beleaguered village, he skillfully maneuvered his aircraft to provide cover for a Huey helicopter equipped with infrared and spotlight equipment to detect and illuminate enemy positions on the ground. When the Huey located and focused a light on a large concentration of North Vietnamese and immediately came under an extremely heavy volume of hostile fire, Major Bailey fearlessly ignored the enemy fire directed at his aircraft and repeatedly attacked the hostile force until it dispersed. After being informed that the enemy was at the perimeter wire, he resolutely braved the North Vietnamese fire during numerous strafing runs around the entire perimeter which not only suppressed the fire directed at the Huey but also repulsed the assault and forced the enemy to retreat completely disorganized. When the hostile soldiers attempted to cross a nearby river by boat, Major Bailey again maneuvered his Cobra through the enemy fire and delivered his rockets with such devastating effectiveness that six boats were destroyed. By his courage, superior airmanship, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of great personal danger, Major Bailey was instrumental in decisively defeating the North Vietnamese battalions and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.