The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant Charles R. Champe (MCSN: 0-102666), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Patrol Leader with the First Force Reconnaissance Company, First Reconnaissance Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 18 August 1969, while his unit occupied a defensive position during a long-range reconnaissance patrol, First Lieutenant Champe, accompanied by another Marine, moved ahead to reconnoiter the area. As he attained the crest of a hill directly above the patrol’s emplacement, he detected approaching enemy voices. Crouching beside the trail, he observed three North Vietnamese Army soldiers and, with his companions, opened fire, killing two of the soldiers and wounding the third who escaped into a tree line. With complete disregard for his own safety, First Lieutenant Champe ran across fifteen meters of unprotected terrain to search one of the bodies for intelligence information and retrieve the enemy soldier’s equipment but, as he obtained his objective, he came under a heavy volume of small arms fire from an enemy platoon concealed in the tree line. Reacting instantly, First Lieutenant Champe delivered accurate suppressive fire and, shouting to his patrol to follow, dauntlessly raced across twenty meters of fire-swept terrain and boldly initiated an aggressive assault against the hostile emplacements. When the Marines came under intense machine gun fire, First Lieutenant Champe, unwilling to risk excessive casualties, directed his men to deploy to alternative fighting positions. As the unit withdrew, he threw hand grenades and fired his rifle into the enemy positions to cove the movement of his men with such effectiveness that he was instrumental in halting an attempted enemy counterattack. Utilizing the patrol’s radio, he skillfully adjusted fixed wing air strikes perilously close to the friendly position and when an extraction helicopter arrived overhead, he boldly stood in full view of the North Vietnamese Army soldiers to mark his team’s position with an air panel and then provided covering fire as his patrol embarked. His heroic and aggressive efforts inspired all who observed him and were instrumental in minimizing Marine casualties. By his courage, dynamic leadership and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger, First Lieutenant Champe upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.