Bob L. Gregory
Lieutenant Colonel
Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry,
1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
2 January 1968
Republic of Vietnam
For extraordinary heroism
in connection with military operations involving conflict
with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam:
Lieutenant Colonel Gregory
distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 2
and 3 January 1968 as commanding officer of an airmobile
cavalry battalion conducting operations against a North
Vietnamese Army division in the Que Sons Valley. During the
afternoon of 2 January, one of his companies on a search and
destroy mission became heavily engaged with an enemy force
of undetermined size. Colonel Gregory immediately boarded
his command and control helicopter and flew to the battle
site. Disregarding a hail of hostile ground fire tracking
his aircraft, he remained over the raging firefight and
directed gunship fire and aerial rocket artillery on enemy
positions. when the ground commander attempted to move his
main force to relieve one platoon that was surrounded by the
North Vietnamese, Colonel Gregory instructed his pilot to
descend, leaped from the helicopter amid intense automatic
weapons fire and rallied the troops in their maneuver. As
darkness approached, he directed the helicopter evacuation
of wounded and supervised the extraction of the beleaguered
company. During the early morning hours of 3 January, the
battalion fire base was attacked by two North Vietnamese
Army regiments. Braving savage rocket, mortar and automatic
weapons fire, Colonel Gregory unhesitantly moved from the
relative safety of his bunker to the tactical operations
center, where he quickly organized his defenses to repel the
attack. He repeatedly exposed himself to the hostile
fusillade as he moved among his troops and encouraged their
fierce fight against the determined attackers. His fearless
and inspiring leadership was responsible for the successful
defense of the base and over two hundred North Vietnamese
killed. Lieutenant Colonel Gregory'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. |