The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Captain [then Commander] Paul Lloyd Milius, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism on 27 February 1968 as an Aircraft Commander in Observation Squadron SIXTY SEVEN (VO-67). During a combat mission in Southeast Asia, Captain Milius’ aircraft received multiple hits from 37-mm. anti-aircraft-artillery fire during a run over the assigned target. Immediately, the aircraft burst into flames, several members of the crew received injuries, and dense smoke and fumes filled the fuselage. Remaining at the controls to insure stable flight, Captain Milius ordered his crew members to bail out. As a result of his action, seven of his nine crewmen were rescued within three hours of bail-out. Rescue flights, however, were unable to locate Captain Milius. His heroic efforts and inspiring devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Captain Milius was declared Missing In Action in 1968 and his status was changed to Presumed Killed In Action ten years later. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross in 1978. Presently the USS Milius, an Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyer, was commissioned in 1996 in his honor. His highly secret squadron, established in 1967, was deployed to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base with a mission to drop microphones and seismographic sensors along the Ho Chi Minh Trail at low level altitude to detect enemy movement along the trail. The Department of Defense code name for the mission was “Igloo White” and was a project personally directed by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Unfortunately the VO-67 unit, flying P-2 Neptune aircraft, suffered an unexceptable loss rate and it was disestablished in July 1968. The unit’s mission was finally declassified and the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest decoration for combat valor a unit can receive, was awarded in 2008.

The “Igloo White” mission was then turned over to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, United States Air Force, using H-3 helicopters. I, your LOV National Adjutant, flew this mission starting in November, 1968. We would usually lay down a string of 5 sensors at tree top level along the trail. Any enemy noise or detected movement would then be transmitted to a classified unit at Nakhon Phanom where flight orders would be immediately transmitted to bomb the suspected locations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Unfortunately our unit did not fair much better and the mission, after I departed, was transferred to an F-4 unit until the program ended in 1972.