The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Major William Murphy Bolton (ASN: 0-398864), United States Army, for gallantry in action as a member of the United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea, in action near Hoengsong, Korea. At approximately 2100 hours on 11 February 1951, the 16th Republic of Korea Regiment was attacked by elements of two Chinese Divisions. Major Bolton, a United States Advisor with the regiment, was at the regimental command post when a part of the enemy force made two successive attacks on the command group. Hastily organizing the headquarters personnel into a defensive force, he placed them in position and directed their fire, successfully turning back both attacks and inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. When it became apparent that the numerically superiority of the enemy was too great for the forward elements of the regiment to hold their position, Major Bolton went to the front lines, and heedless of the intense enemy fire, organized stragglers into platoons, placed them in defensive positions and directed their fire on the enemy. He remained with these small groups, exhorting and encouraging them until their positions were completely overrun. When last seen, he was directing the efforts of one group in an attempt to extricate themselves from the enemy encirclement. The aggressive leadership, courage and devotion to duty displayed by Major Bolton reflect utmost credit on himself and the military service.