Neal M. Morris

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Neal M. Morris (RA34769763), Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Battery A, 26th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. Sergeant First Class Morris distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces near Yonch’on, North Korea, on 13 December 1950. While he was on outpost duty protecting battery C, 555th Field Artillery Battalion from aircraft and ground attack, a force of approximately sixty guerrillas infiltrated through the darkness to within a few yards of the vehicle. Observing that the enemy were too close for him to bring effective fire on them, he attempted to withdraw with his driver; however, when the motor of the half track was started, it drew heavy enemy fire and the driver was seriously wounded. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, he withdrew approximately seventy-five yards where he reorganized the remaining seven men of his section and started back to the half-track position to engage the enemy. He crossed an open field under heavy enemy fire which became so intense that the group was pinned down ten yards from their objective. Heedless of the intense enemy small-arms fire and with complete disregard for his personal safety, he crawled the remaining ten yards and removed the wounded driver from the half track. After removing the driver, he started the motor which operated the gun turret in an attempt to bring the quad-mounted .50 caliber machine guns to bear on the enemy. The noise of the motor again drew heavy small-arms and automatic-weapons fire and an enemy grenade blew Sergeant Morris from the track, mortally wounding him.
Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 132 (March 11, 1951)