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 First Lieutenant (Infantry) Felix E. Williams, 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 E, 3d Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Williams distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 3 and 4 March 1969 during a reconnaissance-in-force operation near Kontum City in the Central Highlands. Lieutenant Williams was leading his platoon up a ridge when they encountered a small number of North Vietnamese troops. He and his men quickly subdued the enemy elements, but before they could move on, they were taken under fire by a battalion-size enemy force occupying bunker fortifications. Lieutenant Williams quickly deployed his men and directed their return fire while awaiting reinforcements. Locating the bunker from which the heaviest suppressive fire was coming, he crawled through open terrain under intense fire, carefully advanced to within feet of the hostile emplacement, and blasted its defenders with grenades. Minutes later, he again edged his way to another bunker and destroyed its occupants with a hand grenade. Lieutenant Williams then made his way back to the company’s main force and there learned that the company commander and other officers had been killed. With this news, he quickly regrouped the company’s remaining elements and set up a second defense line. Shortly after, the enemy assaulted in great numbers. Lieutenant Williams was wounded by grenade fragmentation in the onslaught, but he drew the company’s remnants into a tight defensive perimeter and then coordinated artillery and air strikes on hostile positions only meters from his own. In the morning, he dispatched a patrol to recover those left dead and wounded on the ridge in the previous day’s fighting, but meeting with fierce resistance, the patrol was forced to pull back almost immediately. Again the adversary assaulted, rushing the exhausted Americans under barrages of mortar fire. Fearing imminent loss of all his men, Lieutenant Williams radioed for helicopter extraction and then led his tattered troops to the arranged landing zone and safety. First Lieutenant Williams’ 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.