Vietnam, 1967. The assistant battalion adviser and his Second Battalion were advancing when they came under intense machine gun and mortar fire from Viet Cong positioned in well fortified bunkers. As the battalion deployed into attack formation its advance was halted by devastating fire. Although wounded by mortar fragments, the captain assumed command of the company, ordered a withdrawal from the exposed position and established a defensive perimeter. Despite profuse bleeding from head wounds, which impaired his vision, with complete disregard for his safety, he returned under intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded adviser to the safety of a wooded area where he administered lifesaving first aid. He then returned through heavy automatic weapons fire to evacuate the wounded company commander. He made repeated trips across the fire-swept open rice paddies evacuating the wounded and their weapons.

His actions saved the lives of one U.S. adviser and 13 soldiers and earned him in 1969 the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration granted by the U.S. government.