Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Sergeant First Class

    Batallion:

    3d Battalion

    Regiment:

    187th Airborne Infantry Regiment

    Division:

    101st Airborne Division

    Action Date:

    September 5 & 6, 1968

    Headquarters, U.S. Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 3904 (1969)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Sergeant First Class Thomas E. Warren, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company A, 3d Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Sergeant First Class Warren distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 5 and 6 September 1968 while participating in a reconnaissance-in-force mission against the village of Ap Trang Dau near Trang Bang. Intelligence reports had indicated that the village was a haven for two battalions of North Vietnamese regulars. Having overcome fierce sniper resistance as they encircled the town, the friendly force settled into defensive positions to wait out the night. In the early morning hours of 6 September, the enemy initiated a crazed attempt to break from the allied snare while darkness hung over the village. Supported by a curtain of mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire, the hostile troops rushed from the village in screaming waves. Sergeant Warren was coordinating defensive fire when he noticed that several of his men holding a position some seventy-five meters on the left flank were outnumbered and in danger of being overrun. He started moving toward the isolated soldiers through massive barrages of enemy fire. Although suffering fragmentation wounds in his advance, he began hurling grenades and firing his weapon in an effort to draw the enemy’s fire on himself as his men maneuvered back to the main force. When they had safely arrived he again harrowed the full force of hostile firepower in a wild dash back across the bullet-raked battlefield, sustaining additional wounds in the maneuver. Sergeant Warren then regrouped his troops and redistributed ammunition, encouraging his weary comrades as he moved among them. When the beaten enemy broke contact and fled, he administered first aid to the injured and personally took charge of the helicopter extraction of the dead and seriously wounded. Weak and nearly exhausted, he stood in the open rice paddy, harassed by sniper fire, and guided in evacuation helicopters with a strobe light. Sergeant First Class Warren’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.