The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain John Marshall Groves, United States Air Force, for gallantry in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States near Fallujah, Iraq, on 12 April 2004. On that date he was the aircraft commander of the second aircraft in a two-ship formation of MH-53M Pave Low helicopters conducting a special operations combat re-supply mission. Soon after accomplishing a formation go-around due to a saturated landing zone, Captain Groves’ flight lead was ambushed and shot down by Iraqi insurgents. Moments later, Captain Groves’ aircraft was accurately engaged by a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire, some coming as close as 25 meters to his aircraft. He successfully accomplished evasive maneuvers, directed his crew to jettison flares, and steered his aircraft away from the threat area while flying as low as 80 feet above the ground to avoid further detection. In the course of the next five minutes, while attempting to return to the last known location of his flight lead, Captain Groves’ aircraft was engaged by hostile enemy fire twice more. In both cases, his perfect defensive maneuvering, coupled with his crew coordination defeated the threat. On the third attempt, after 10 minutes of searching, Captain Groves’ crew located the downed aircraft on the ground. He immediately conducted a flawless approach under zero illumination conditions, in an extremely high threat area, and placed his aircraft only 200 feet from the lead aircraft. On the ground, he directed his crew and three Special Forces passengers to locate and recover all personnel from the damaged helicopter. Once all survivors were on board, he readied his then overloaded aircraft for take off. As he gained flying speed on departure, they were again engaged by accurate enemy fire. For the fourth time, Captain Groves executed successful defensive maneuvering and defeated the enemy threat. At maximum speed, he flew his aircraft back to their forward staging base and provided much-needed medical care for the wounded. His exceptional bravery and tremendous pilot skills saved the lives of nine fellow service members. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Captain Groves has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.