George C. Yates

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to George C. Yates, Private, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry in action on 13 – 14 April 1971 while serving as a Light Weapons Advisor to 54 Company, 5th Airborne Battalion, Army of the Republic of Vietnam. His duties were to hold a night defensive position, but as morning approached, the unit received an intense barrage of mortar, rocket and small arms fire. When the requested gunships arrived, without regard for his own personal safety, Bateman exposed himself to the hail of fire while marking the enemy position with smoke. Seizing this moment of fire superiority, he joined the company commander, rallied the paratroopers and led a savage assault on the stunned, but still deadly North Vietnamese Army soldiers. During the battle, he could be seen engaging and striking down the enemy with his pistol at ranges of less than 3 meters.

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to George C. Yates, Private, U.S. Army, for gallantry in action at Cebu, Phillipine Islands on 29 March 1945. During an advance along a heavily mined road, Private Yates was a member of a group acting as security for a group of mine detector operators and demolition men who were locating and disarming mines in front of a column of tanks. Soon after the advance started enemy cross fire killed two men and seriously wounded three others. It was impossible for the tanks to move forward without crushing the wounded and dead men. Realizing this, Private Yates and another member of the squad crawled under the cross fire to the wounded men and dragged them from the path of the tanks. They then crawled out and moved the dead men to the side of the road, thus enabling the tanks to move forward and neutralize the enemy position. Private Yates’ courage and disregard for his own safety aided immeasurably in saving the lives of the three wounded soldiers.