The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant Albert Ritchie Pfeltz, III (MCSN: 0-91971), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with Company B, Third Reconnaissance Battalion, THIRD Marine Division (Rein.), FMF, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On the evening of 24 August 1967, during Operation ARDMORE, First Lieutenant Pfeltz was leading a ten-man reconnaissance patrol northeast of Khe Sanh when it became surrounded by an estimated fifteen to twenty North Vietnamese Army regulars. Displaying an exceptional knowledge of tactics and leadership, he skillfully placed and detonated defensive claymore mines and directed the fire of his men into the enemy positions, effectively repulsing the attack while he called in supporting artillery fire and air strikes to secure his position in preparation for the extraction of his patrol. When the proximity of the hostile force prevented the helicopters from embarking the beleaguered Marines, First Lieutenant Pfeltz completely disregarded his own safety as he exposed himself to North Vietnamese fire to reorganize his men and move them to the bank of a thirty-meter-wide river. Concerned only for the safety of his patrol, he boldly waded through the chest high water and scouted the opposite bank before bringing the remainder of his men across to establish a landing zone. When attempts by the helicopters to extract the Marines from this landing zone and another 150 meters up the river were aborted due to terrain restrictions and darkness, he quickly formed a defensive perimeter to await daylight for further attempts to evacuate his men. Again surrounded by North Vietnamese, now estimated to number approximately fifty, First Lieutenant Pfeltz demonstrated outstanding professional ability as he skillfully called in and adjusted more than 1,100 rounds of artillery, effectively protecting his position from the encircling hostile force. At dawn a helicopter was able to land nearly fifty meters from the Marines’ position. Immediately recognizing the danger to both the aircraft and his men, he aggressively directed fire into the surrounding North Vietnamese and maneuvered the patrol across the open area to the helicopter. Providing covering fire as they moved, he finally boarded the aircraft only when he had ensured that all his men were safely embarked. Due largely to his dynamic leadership and fearless actions, his men displayed an aggressive fighting spirit that was instrumental in repulsing all enemy assaults and in inflicting heavy losses on the North Vietnamese while sustaining only one friendly casualty. By his superior professionalism, bold initiative and selfless devotion to duty at great personal risk, First Lieutenant Pfeltz upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.