Rowland H. Worrell, III

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Cross to Rowland H. Worrell, III (FR-3196585), First Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force as Forward Air Controller and Pilot of an O-2 aircraft of the 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron, Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Vietnam, SEVENTH Air Force, in action at Dak Seang Special Forces Camp, Republic of Vietnam, on 1 April 1970. On that date, Lieutenant Worrell directed air strikes, artillery and aerial resupply drops in support of the completely besieged Dak Seang Camp. With complete disregard for his personal safety, he calmly and accurately located hostile forces and weapons and systematically directed their destruction. When these efforts failed to halt the perimeter assault, Lieutenant Worrell repeatedly flew his unarmed aircraft through heavy ground fire and, as a last effort, fired his marking rockets into the attackers on the perimeter wire, causing them to stop the assault and withdraw. During the four and one-half hours over the camp, Lieutenant Worrell braved intense ground fire to cover a troop withdrawal and single-handedly frustrated an attack on the camp’s perimeter, thus saving many lives and possibly the camp itself. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, Lieutenant Worrell reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.