Colonel EARL D. GREER received the Distinguished Service Cross to recognize his extraordinary heroism during the period 26-29 February 1968 while serving as a platoon leader in Vietnam. On 26 February, Lieutenant Greer’s personnel carrier was struck during an enemy attack by an anti-tank rocket and he was painfully wounded. He refused medical evacuation, quickly assessed the situation and directed fire into the insurgents’ positions. When one of his platoon’s vehicle commanders was severely wounded by the hostile fire, he dismounted his vehicle and, disregarding his safety, ran through a withering hail of enemy bullets to render aid to the man and move him to a place of safety. The following morning, Lieutenant Greer spearheaded the task force’s attack by destroying several bunker complexes. During the continuous fighting that followed near the village of Ap Ban Tram, one of his personnel carriers was struck by a rocket which seriously wounded the vehicle’s driver. Lieutenant Greer immediately returned the fire, killing the enemy gunner. While under intense fire from several other concealed positions, he dismounted his vehicle and attached a tow cable to the disabled armored personnel carrier to extract it from the battle area. After the vehicle had been removed, he led his platoon in an assault on the enemy, killing three and capturing four North Vietnamese soldiers. Later, infantry elements east of the village were pinned down by intense hostile automatic weapons fire. He maneuvered his vehicle into position and directed counterfire on the entrenched insurgents positions which allowed the beleaguered units to disengage the enemy. The movement exposed his armored personnel carrier to the insurgents and it was struck by anti-tank fire which resulted in the entire crew being wounded. With his carrier in flames and painfully wounded himself, Lieutenant Greer personally extracted the other crew members before allowing himself to be given medical treatment. Throughout the entire four days of fighting, his personal acts of courage were a constant source of inspiration to his troops.

Cpt. Greer joined the L.O.V. in 1971 and resides in Idaho.