Captain SMITH B. CHAMBERLAIN, Platoon leader of an infantry company received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy in Korea. On 3 June 1951, Lieutenant Chamberlain, a platoon leader, was ordered to make the initial crossing of a river and to lead his men in an attack on the first objective in an Allied assault to capture a vital, enemy-held position. While Lieutenant Chamberlain was organizing his men for the crossing, the platoon was subjected to heavy enemy fire. Ordering his men to take cover, Lieutenant Chamberlain waded the river to check it for depth and swiftness and then swam back and recrossed with a rope to be used as a guide line. While the platoon was moving across the river, one of the men lost his footing and the swift current carried him downstream toward the swirling rapids. Lieutenant Chamberlain rescued this man and three others in similar mishaps and sustained rib injuries when he was hurled against rocks and boulders in the water. Once the men had crossed the river, Lieutenant Chamberlain reorganized them and, after a valiant three-hour struggle, succeeded in securing the first objective. When the platoon was relieved, Lieutenant Chamberlain went to the battalion aid station for treatment of his side injury and grenade wounds which he suffered during the fighting. Upon return, he found that a bridge which had been constructed across the river had been knocked out by an enemy counter-attack and the Allied elements had withdrawn to the opposite bank. Again swimming the river, though suffering from a possible rib fracture and subjected to heavy machine gun fire, Lieutenant Chamberlain repeatedly tried to establish a guide line, but heavy rains had swollen the river until it was impossible to successfully navigate it with the rope. Refusing to be stopped, Lieutenant Chamberlain made continuous trips back and forth with an inflated air mattress carrying wounded men and equipment and rescuing men who had become marooned on the rocks when they attempted to swim. The following morning, Lieutenant Chamberlain was successful in establishing a guide line across the river. He then organized a thirty-man patrol and led them in the recovery of the ground lost the previous day. The extraordinary heroism exhibited by Lieutenant Chamberlain on this occasion reflect great credit on himself and is in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service.

Captain Chamberlain joined the Legion of Valor in 1961 and resides in New York.