For extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed force in the Republic of Vietnam. Staff Sergeant Koch distinguished himself while serving as patrol leader of a twenty- one man reconnaissance team in Phuc Long Province on 16 December 1969. While moving through a plantation area, his team encountered about thirty to forty enemy soldiers in and around a bunker complex. At this time Sergeant Koch radioed for reinforcements and gunship support. When the gunships arrived, he directed their attack on the enemy bunkers. Initiating his assault before the arrival of ground reinforcements, Sergeant Koch’s unit became pinned down by accurate machine gun and rocket fire from two bunkers to their front. When one of his comrades was seriously wounded, he crawled over fifty meters to treat the wounded man. Returning to his position, Sergeant Koch learned that the supporting helicopter gunships had expended most of their ammunition. He instructed one of the gunships to make passes over the enemy positions so that they would be immobilized, and then he crawled forward toward the first enemy bunker. After threading his way through the enemy gunner’s field of fire, he threw a hand grenade through the bunker aperture and killed all of the bunker’s occupants. Although he was now the object of all enemy attention, Sergeant Koch flanked the second bunker in a like manner, and destroyed it. Sergeant Koch’s actions created a hole in the enemy perimeter and enabled the rest of his force to overwhelm the remaining hostile positions from the rear. Sergeant Koch’s 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.