MARTIN C. MILES. Staff Sergeant, Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, United States Army. For extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam: Staff Sergeant Miles distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 25 March 1969 while serving as platoon leader during a unit reconnaissance-in-force mission near Fire Support Base Danger in Kien Phong Province. After having been inserted into a thickly vegetated area, Sergeant Milesí platoon encountered fifty-caliber machine gun fire from a well-fortified enemy battalion. When a soldier close by was struck down in the initial salvo, Sergeant Miles immediately applied first aid and then carried the critically wounded man across open terrain to the evacuation point. Suddenly the pick-up zone came under rocket-propelled grenade attack, and Sergeant Miles fearlessly stood up to wave the ambulance helicopter away for the dangerous area. He then had his men withdraw an additional two hundred meters before the evacuation was completed. Returning to the battle field, he called in artillery and gun ships. Reinforced with additional men, Sergeant Miles once more advanced his platoon toward the enemy position in a treeline. Again the hostile force unleashed a barrage that pinned the platoon down. Seeing that several of his men were trapped under a lethal crossfire, Sergeant Miles ran through the fusillade to retrieve an abandoned machine gun, which he used to deliver a devastating base of fire on the enemy positions, thereby enabling the trapped men to withdraw. Staff Sergeant Milesí extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Mr. Miles resides in New Jersey, and is a LIFE MEMBER.