GREEN BERETS Severson, Paul Roy

Outwitting the Gestapo
By Lucie Aubrac
Colonel Paddy
By Patrick Marrinan

John Robertson

Administrator
Staff member
  • SURNAME
Severson
  • FORENAME
Paul Roy
  • UNIT
5 SF Group (Company B,Det A-201) (2 M.S.F.C.)
  • RANK
Specialist Fifth Class
  • NUMBER
16830445
  • AWARD
Distinguished Service Cross,Bronze Star,Air Medal
  • PLACE
South Vietnam 1968
  • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
KIA - see Roll of Honour
 

ROLL OF HONOUR:

https://www.specialforcesroh.com/index.php?threads/severson-paul-roy.9168/

CITATION:

Distinguished Service Cross : The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Specialist Fifth Class Paul Roy Severson (ASN: RA-16830445), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Detachment B-20, Company B, 5th Special Forces (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Specialist Five Severson distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 25 August 1968 while serving as a platoon leader during an assault on enemy-controlled bunkers and trenches in the Duc Lap Special Forces camp. Specialist Severson, pinned down initially by a heavy volume of small arms and automatic weapons fire, joined another American and began a two-man assault on an estimated two platoons of North Vietnamese Army troops. Braving a withering hail of hostile fire, they seized the first bunker. They then rushed another bunker, and when grenades failed to silence its weapons, Specialist Severson moved around the fortification and killed the enemy inside with rifle fire. He then entered the communist-held trench line. Moving forward alone under heavy fire, he encountered four aggressors and killed two of them before he was mortally wounded. Specialist Five Severson's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
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