Remarks Upon Presenting the Medal of Honor to Maj. Bernard F. Fisher, USAF

Major Fisher, Mrs. Fisher and family, Secretary Brown, General McConnell, distinguished guests, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen:

We have come here to the East Room this morning to honor Maj. Bernard F. Fisher of the United States Air Force. He is the first Air officer to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

Major Fisher has won this honor--the Nation's highest honor--because of uncommon gallantry in the face of death.

The action for which we salute him today took place last March and took place during a very bitter and a very bloody battle.

Yet in that battle it did not involve taking a life, but did involve saving a life. The man Major Fisher rescued, Lt. Col. Dafford Myers, is here with us today.

I should like to point out that this desire to save lives instead of taking lives is not just confined to Major Fisher. It is rather, I think, typical of all our men in Vietnam. It is particularly true of those who serve with Major Fisher in the most difficult air war in the history of the United States.

Like Major Fisher, these men fight with determination. But they hate the killing, and they hate the destruction, and they hate the waste that are products of war.

Like Major Fisher, all of these air men have accepted an extra risk.

It is not the hazard of flying in the mountainous, jungle-covered country, though that is very difficult.

It is not the threat of an aggressive, wellequipped, and fanatical enemy, though this is very great.

These men are conducting the most careful and the most self-limited air war in history.

They are trying to apply the maximum amount of pressure with the minimum amount of danger to our own people.

There are no fixed fronts in Vietnam, nothing that really separates friend from enemy or civilian from military.

Through Major Fisher and Lieutenant Colonel Myers, and the other fliers in that March mission who are here today--Captain Francisco Vazquez, Captain Jon Lucas, and Captain Dennis Hague--I would like through all these gallant men to honor the men of the United States Air Force who are serving us in Vietnam and in that area.

Those men in that Air Force are helping us to win a very difficult war.

They are helping us to defeat a very treacherous enemy.

They are helping a young nation to be free and to be born and to be independent.

They are helping their own Nation, the United States of America, to honor a pledge, to keep a commitment, to make its word good, and to be treated, trusted, and respected in its alliances.

They deserve the best their Nation can offer them because they are the best of this Nation.

Thank you very much.

[Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown read the citation, the text of which follows.]

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1896, has awarded in the name of The Congress the Medal of Honor to

BERNARD F. FISHER
MAJOR, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Major Bernard F. Fisher distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as an A-1E pilot near A Shau, Republic of Vietnam, on 10 March 1966. On that date, the special forces camp at A Shau was under attack by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army Regulars. Hostile troops had positioned themselves between the air strip and the camp. Other hostile troops had surrounded the camp and were continuously raking it with automatic weapons fire from the surrounding hills. The tops of the 1,500-foot hills were obscured by an 800-foot ceiling, limiting aircraft maneuverability and forcing pilots to operate within range of hostile gun positions, which often were able to fire down on the attacking aircraft. During the battle, Major Fisher observed a fellow airman crash land on the battle torn airship. In the belief that the downed pilot was seriously injured and in imminent danger of capture, Major Fisher announced his intention to land on the airstrip to effect a rescue. Although aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, he elected to continue. Directing his own air cover, he landed his aircraft and taxied almost the full length of the runway, which was littered with battle debris and parts of an exploded aircraft. While effecting a successful rescue of the downed pilot, heavy ground fire was observed, with nineteen bullets striking his aircraft. In the face of the withering ground fire, he applied power and gained enough speed to lift-off at the overrun of the airstrip. Major Fisher's conspicuous gallantry, his profound concern for his fellow airman, and his intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the United States Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the armed forces of his country.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON