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Our Honored Dead: Vietnam

Charlie Company

 

Sp4 Fred Rodriguez Lider

13 November 1966  
(South of Hill 283, Plei Trap Valley, 4 km WSW of LZ Lane, Kontum Province)

        

Age 21
Oakland, California
Kontum Province
Small Arms/AW

 

Award of the Silver Star (Posthumously)

Specialist Four Lider was moving with his company in an effort to relieve a sister company
of the 14th Infantry that was encircled and suffering heavy casualties from an enemy force
estimated to be a battalion size unit.  As the company moved within four hundred meters of
the beleaguered unit, it began to receive stray rounds.  As the lead platoons deployed on line,
Specialist Lider immediately moved forward with his machine gun and placed himself in the
most advantageous position in the assault line.  As the line moved forward it came under
heavy automatic and small arms fire from the enemy force that now realized the presence
of the relieving force.  Specialist Lider, unhesitatingly and without regard for his personal
safety, moved forward firing from the hip into the enemy positions.  This well-directed
volume of fire from his machine gun helped the company to gain fire superiority and to
maintain the momentum of the attack.  He continued to expose himself to intense enemy
fire while placing accurate fire on the enemy until he was mortally wounded by a burst of
automatic weapons fire from a hostile position.  Specialist Lider's display of personal
courage and heroism and his unrelenting devotion to duty at the cost of his own life reflect
great credit upon himself and his unit and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the
United States Army.