Donald L. Myers

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Donald L. Myers, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for exceptionally valorous actions on 27 October 1966 while serving as Special Forces team leader of a reconnaissance team on a combat mission deep in hostile territory. While moving through thick jungle late in the afternoon, his patrol was suddenly at-tacked by a numerically superior Viet Cong force. Sergeant Myers exposed himself to the intense fire to direct his men in repulsing the attack. Quickly moving into a defensive perimeter, he tried to radio friendly forces for support. Unable to make contact, he called in air strikes within thirty meters of his position and exposed himself to direct gunships on the enemy positions. When the enemy started to pull back, he called for exfiltration helicopters to evacuate the team. Seeing that the helicopters could extract only one man at a time, he stayed on the ground to cover the operations. The insurgents launched a furious assault on his position in an attempt to shoot down the hovering aircraft, but he remained in the open and drove off the attack at point blank range. Only when he was sure that his men were safe did he allow himself to be hoisted to safety.
RV, General Orders No: 5002 – (October 2, 1967)