Staff Sergeant Douglas R. Dolbin, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st BN, 39th Infantry, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in regonition of his extraordinary heroism in the replubic of Vietnam on 22 October 1966 while serving with a company being evacuated from a combat zone. When his helicopter was shot down, Sergeant Dolbin, while receiving intense hostile fire, moved the wounded pilots to safety. He organized his squad members to form a defensive perimeter, then crossed an open rice paddy to prevent the insurgents from boarding another downed aircraft. After treating the wounded, Sergeant Dolbin took a machine gun and climbed to the top of the cockpit. From there, while clearly outlined and an easy target for the Viet Cong, he placed effective fire on the insurgents. When several insurgents entered another helicopter, he killed two of them with his first burst of fire. However, their return fire hit his equipment and knocked him off of the cockpit. Undaunted, he returned to this previous position and engaged the enemy. Again, he was knocked down by hostile fire into a rice paddy. Again, he returned to his perch. After the initial assaults were repulsed, Sergeant Dolbin took a position on his unit’s perimeter and, while standing in waist deep water, mantained his vigil through the night. Sergeant Dolbin’s extraordinary heroism was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and United States Army.

SSG. Dolbin joined the Legion of Valor in 1974.