The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lance Corporal Theodore J. Williams (MCSN: 2266152), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as an Assistant Patrol Leader with Company D, 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 2 January 1968, Lance Corporal Williams was a member of a long-range reconnaissance team assigned to monitor hostile movement in a hilly areas southwest of Hue where another reconnaissance team had previously become engaged with a large enemy force. As darkness approached, a hostile soldier was noted in the vicinity, and the team deployed to a night defensive position to keep the area under observation. As the men were moving into their emplacement, their presence was detected by the enemy who began an immediate search for the Marines. Quickly maneuvering his men to an alternate position, Lance Corporal Williams skillfully plotted on-call, supporting artillery fire and directed the placement of claymore mines around the site. During the ensuing hours, a hostile unit of fifty men, conducting a systematic search for the reconnaissance team, flashed lights, beat the brush with sticks, and threw rocks and hand grenades in an effort to draw fire from the Marines. Fearlessly exposing himself to possible detection, Lance Corporal Williams resolutely moved from one man to the other, reassuring each one and directing that they withhold their fire to prevent the enemy from pinpointing their emplacement. When the hostile soldiers approached to within thirty meters of the men, Lance Corporal Williams commenced adjusting artillery fire on the enemy force, continuing to do so until the following morning when, with the arrival of gunships overhead, he coordinated firing runs on the determined hostile soldiers. When an extraction helicopter landed, he calmly delivered a heavy volume of covering fire on the attacking enemy, thereby enabling his men to embark safely. His heroic and timely actions inspired all who observed him and saved his companions from serious injury or possible death while sustaining only one minor casualty. By his courage, superb leadership and unwavering devotion to duty at great personal risk, Lance Corporal Williams upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.