SSG Franklin D. Miller
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:
Staff Sergeant Franklin D. Miller, United States Army, distinguished himself on 5 January 1970 while serving as team leader with the 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, on an American-Vietnamese long-range reconnaissance patrol operating deep within enemy-controlled territory in Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam. Leaving the helicopter insertion point, the patrol moved forward on its mission. Suddenly one of the team members tripped a hostile booby trap which wounded four soldiers.
Sergeant Miller, knowing that the explosion could alert the enemy, quickly administered first aid to the wounded and directed the team into positions across a small stream bed at the base of a steep hill. Within a few minutes, Sergeant Miller saw the lead element of what he estimated to be a platoon-size enemy moving toward his location.
Concerned for the safety of his men, he directed the small team to move up the hill to a more secure position. He remained alone, separated from the patrol, to meet the attack. Sergeant Miller single-handedly repulsed two determined attacks by the numerically superior enemy force and caused them to withdraw in disorder.
He rejoined his team, established contact with a forward air controller and arranged the evacuation of his patrol. However, the only suitable extraction location in the heavy jungle was a bomb crater some 150 meters from the team location. Sergeant Miller reconnoitered the route to the crater and led his men through the enemy-controlled jungle to the extraction site.
As the evacuation helicopter hovered over the crater to pick up the patrol, the enemy launched a savage automatic weapon and rocket-propelled grenade attack against the beleaguered team, driving off the rescue helicopter. Sergeant Miller led the team in a valiant defense which drove back the enemy in its attempt to overrun the small patrol.
Although seriously wounded and with every man in his patrol a casualty, Sergeant Miller moved the patrol to a more protected position. He then moved forward to again single-handedly meet the hostile attackers. From his forward exposed position, Sergeant Miller gallantly repelled two attacks by the enemy before a friendly relief force reached the patrol location.
Sergeant Miller's conspicuous gallantry, intrepidity in action, and selfless devotion to the welfare of his comrades at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
