[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13727]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            SILVER STAR MEDAL PRESENTED TO DONALD F. FULTON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 29, 2006

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to invite 
my colleagues to join me in recognizing Major Donald F. Fulton, USAF 
Ret., a resident of Vacaville, California, who has been awarded the 
Silver Star Medal for extraordinary gallantry in action while on a 
combat mission. The incident took place on August 14, 1969 when Maj. 
Fulton was serving in the United States Air Force as a Forward Air 
Controller, FAC, while supporting classified combat operations in Laos 
during the Vietnam War. Approval was announced by the Department of the 
Air Force for the award of the Silver Star Medal, the nation's third 
highest award for valor, to Donald F. Fulton.
  Don Fulton is a native of New York City, NY, and has lived in the 
Vacaville, CA, area since 1975. He graduated from Point Lorna Nazarene 
University in 1965.
  As a captain in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a FAC while assigned 
to Pleiku Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, with the 20th Tactical Air 
Support Squadron, TASS. On August 14, 1969, Captain Fulton was the 
pilot of a lightly armed observation aircraft (0-2) and was 
participating in aerial flight deep inside Laos in support of Military 
Assistance Command--Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group, MAC-V SOG, 
Command and Control Central (CCC). Operating under call sign Covey 538, 
Captain Fulton coordinated Tactical Air Support for an eight-man 
Special Operations Strategic Reconnaissance Team while it conducted 
Operation Sad Sam, a raid on a major North Vietnamese Army unit 
headquarters. Recon Team New York was subsequently heavily engaged by a 
North Vietnamese Infantry Regiment and was immobilized with casualties 
and surrounded at dusk in mountainous rain forest. With a low ceiling 
and heavy rain approaching, and no tactical air support immediately 
available, Captain Fulton, firing marking rockets and an M-16 rifle, 
made numerous aerobatic, treetop level attacks on the enemy forces. 
During these passes, he was subjected to heavy fire from small arms, 
12.7mm heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and 23mm and 37mm 
antiaircraft weapons, inflicting substantial battle damage to his 
aircraft. His actions forestalled enemy attacks on the besieged Recon 
Team, until tactical air support could arrive. Subsequently, Captain 
Fulton directed the air assets in attacking the enemy and in conducting 
a night extraction of the Reconnaissance Team during a heavy rainstorm, 
while his fuel level dropped to near empty.
  In his recommendation for the award of the Silver Star to Major 
Fulton, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Wolcoff, U.S. Army, Ret., stated that 
the ``operation resulted in the discovery of a major enemy headquarters 
and nearby main force bivouacs and fortifications, which were subjected 
to aerial attack and subsequently ground attack by an exploitation 
force from CCC, whereby the enemy sustained heavy losses and was forced 
to abandon the complex. The Sad Sam operation and subsequent ground 
operation caused the enemy to reinforce security in its sanctuary area 
at the expense of main force units, and its order of battle in South 
Vietnam was decremented.''
  Major Donald Fulton is also the recipient of the Distinguished Flying 
Cross, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Air Medal with eight Oak 
Leaf Clusters.

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