The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant John Bernard Gingery (ASN: RA-13742738), United States Army, for gallantry in action in the Republic of Vietnam on 15 February 1968. Staff Sergeant Gingery distinguished himself while serving as a Squad Leader in the Third Platoon of Company D, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne division during a combat patrol conducted eight kilometers northwest of Hue, Republic of Vietnam. The platoon came under sniper fire while searching for enemy mortar positions but continued its advance until it received a withering hail of fire from enemy automatic weapons and small arms, inflicting heavy casualties among the platoon and pinning down the lead elements. Staff Sergeant Gingery devoted himself unhesitatingly to the aid of the numerous wounded men lying on the field; this despite the fact that the enemy, an estimated North Vietnamese company well entrenched and dug in, was maintaining a deadly effective fire on every sector of the field and concentrating their fire on the areas where the wounded lay in order to retard efforts to evacuate these men. With utter disregard for his own personal safety, mindful only of his wounded comrades, Staff Sergeant Gingery went time and again under intense enemy fire to retrieve the wounded and evacuate them. Then at one point, upon returning to the lines, he took two other men and rushed out under a veritable fusillade of enemy fire to retrieve the body of a dead comrade in a conspicuous display of gallantry amidst a field of valor. His extreme devotion to duty and supreme dedication to his men was an inspiration and a shining example to every man on the field. Staff Sergeant Gingery’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, in close combat, against a hostile force are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.