The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Seaman Timothy D. Alspaugh (NSN: B-423487), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism during operations against an armed enemy in the Republic of Vietnam on 25 September 1969. Seaman Alspaugh was the after fifty-caliber machine gunner aboard River Patrol Boat 677, River Division 521, River Patrol Flotilla FIVE, Task Force 116 (TF-116), which had inserted in a night waterborne guard post on the north bank of the Cai Lon River in support of interdiction operations in Kien Giang Province. His boat was acting as cover boat and had taken a position about fifty yards astern of the patrol’s lead boat, with its starboard side to a heavy growth of nipa palm along the river bank. Shortly past midnight, after several hours of waiting quietly in the darkness to detect enemy movement on the water, Seaman Alspaugh observed what he believed to be a sampan on the river upstream from his boat. Alerting his Boat Captain and bringing his machine gun to bear over the port quarter, he was concentrating on the barely visible craft when he was struck on his left side by an object which he instinctively recognized as a grenade thrown from the underbrush. He immediately shouted a warning to his fellow crewmembers, at the same time bending down to search for the grenade, which had come to rest on the pump covers on the far side of his gun mount. Despite the extreme darkness and the imminent danger of an explosion, Seaman Alspaugh succeeded in locating the grenade and quickly threw it back into the small clearing from which it had been thrown. Even before the grenade exploded near the enemy’s position, he was firing, his fifty-caliber machine gun into the brush, continuing until the boats were clear of the area. Because of Seaman Alspaugh’s quick reaction and disregard for his own personal safety, the patrol escaped without casualty. His extraordinary courage and selfless devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.