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) Richard A. Palmer, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as a Platoon Leader in Company L, 3d Battalion, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2d Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Palmer distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of the Hwachon Reservoir, Korea, on 10 April 1951. On that date, Lieutenant Palmer’s battalion had engaged for two days in an almost continuous assault against a series of heavily fortified and fanatically defended hostile positions on a strategic hill. On the morning of 10 April 1951, Lieutenant Palmer received orders to lead his platoon in an attack to take the vital hill mass. As the friendly troops neared their objective, they were subjected to a devastating volume of automatic-weapons, small-arms, and mortar fire. Seeing that his men were pinned down by the heavy fire and that they faced possible annihilation in their present untenable positions, Lieutenant Palmer, without regard for his personal safety, left his position and charged directly into the intense fire toward the neared hostile emplacement. Alternately firing his rifle and throwing grenades, he destroyed an enemy machine gun and killed its three-man crew. He then closed with the enemy troops in hand-to-hand combat and fought fiercely, killing one of the enemy with his bayonet and numerous others with rifle fire. Lieutenant Palmer’s fearlessness so inspired his men that they swept forward and routed the enemy from the objective. The extraordinary heroism displayed by First Lieutenant Palmer on this occasion reflects the greatest credit on himself and is in keeping with the high traditions of the military service.