Wayne Upell

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant Wayne Upell, Jr., United States Air Force, for gallantry and intrepidity in action on 25 July 1950, at 2100 hours, while acting as Airborne Fighter Controller in a T-6 type aircraft, located both tank and artillery concentrations in the vicinity of Yongdong, Korea. Summoning by radio a flight of four (4) F-80 type aircraft, Lieutenant Upell was informed by the flight leader that due to darkness the objectives were indiscernible. Realizing that these hostile forces were harassing elements of American ground units and in total disregard of his own safety, Lieutenant Upell, in full agreement with his observer, First Lieutenant Winters, turned on the landing lights of his aircraft and instructed the attacking flight to follow. Fully aware that he constituted a highly vulnerable target in his unarmed aircraft, Lieutenant Upell pinpointed the target in his landing lights, diving low through intense rifle, mortar and automatic weapons fire, to within a few hundred feet of the objective. As a result of the heroic act the attacking aircraft were able to deliver a concentrated attack with rockets and machine-guns, setting fire to the tanks. Lieutenant Upell next proceeded to direct ground fire upon the enemy artillery positions. The aggressiveness and courage displayed by Lieutenant Upell reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.