The President of the United States of America, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Smith Barton Chamberlain (ASN: 0-27587), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Company E, 2d Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Chamberlain distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the Republic of Korea on 3 June 1951. On that date, Lieutenant Chamberlain, a platoon leader, was ordered to make the initial crossing of a river and to lead his men in an attack on the first objective in an allied assault to capture a vital, enemy-held position. While Lieutenant Chamberlain was organizing his men for the crossing, the platoon was subjected to heavy enemy fire. Ordering his men to take cover, Lieutenant Chamberlain waded the river to check it for depth and swiftness and then swam back and re-crossed with a rope to be used as a guide line. While the platoon was moving across the river, one of the men lost his footing and the swift current carried him downstream toward the swirling rapids. Lieutenant Chamberlain rescued this man and three others in similar mishaps and sustained rib injuries when he was hurled against rocks and boulders in the water. Once the men had crossed the river, Lieutenant Chamberlain reorganized them and, after a valiant three-hour struggle, succeeded in securing the first objective. When the platoon was relieved, Lieutenant Chamberlain went to the battalion aid station for treatment of his side injury and grenade wounds which he suffered during the fighting. Upon return, he found that a bridge which had been constructed across the river had been knocked out by an enemy counter-attack and the Allied elements had withdrawn to the-opposite bank. Again swimming the river, though suffering from a possible rib fracture and subjected to heavy machine-gun fire, Lieutenant Chamberlain repeatedly tried to establish a guide line, but heavy rains had swollen the river until it was impossible to successfully navigate it with the rope. Refusing to be stopped, Lieutenant Chamberlain made continuous trips back and forth with an inflated air mattress carrying wounded men and equipment and rescuing men who had become marooned on the rocks when they attempted to swim. The following morning, Lieutenant Chamberlain was successful in establishing a guide line across the river. He then organized a thirty-man patrol and led them in the recovery of the ground lost the previous day. First Lieutenant Chamberlain’s heroic action, indomitable courage and sustained devotion to duty reflect great credit upon himself and upholds the finest traditions of the military service.