Henry Joseph O’Kusky, Jr.

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Henry Joseph O’Kusky, Jr. (0-5346474), Second Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company D, 2d Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Second Lieutenant O’Kusky distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 1 July 1968 while serving as a platoon leader during an assault on a large North Vietnamese Army bunker and tunnel complex located on a hill in triple canopy jungle, southwest of Camp Evans. He and a squad leader fought their way to within a short distance of the nearest bunker. Lieutenant O’Kusky then crawled into the open and threw a hand grenade into the fortification, silencing its occupants. While advancing alone towards the next hostile position he was wounded in the thigh by enemy fire. Ignoring the pain of his injury and the communists’ fusillade, he continued to close on the emplacement and threw a grenade which partially destroyed it. As Lieutenant O’Kusky released the grenade, he was fatally wounded by a burst of automatic weapon fire from a third North Vietnamese fortification. Second Lieutenant O’Kusky’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, US Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 5163 (November 6, 1968)