The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain Paul J. Wenzel, United States Army, for heroism while participating in aerial flight on 17 June 1967. On that date, during Operations Billings, Captain Wenzel was serving as aircraft commander of a utility helicopter transporting and resupplying troops engaged in a search and destroy operation in War Zone D. While on standby alert, he received word that a friendly battalion had received intensive hostile fire and human wave assaults. They urgently needed a helicopter to bring in more ammunition and to evacuate several seriously wounded men. Captain Wenzel immediately volunteered for the mission. He supervised the loading of his aircraft with ammunition, then flew directly to the scene of the battle. He landed amidst intensive hostile fire, receiving several hits. Once on the ground, he got out of the aircraft and, disregarding the hostile fire aimed directly at the helicopter, supervised the unloading of the ammunition. He helped to place the most seriously wounded soldiers onto the helicopter. After evacuating the wounded men to a medical treatment facility, he returned to the battle site and, again under heavy automatic weapons fire, landed his helicopter to evacuate more casualties. His courage and determination under fire contributed significantly to the friendly battalion’s success in repelling the Viet Cong assaults and saved the lives of many seriously wounded men. Captain Wenzel’s actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.