on the day after my action i received a silver star from general gigi o'connor who was the acting division commander of the 25th infantry division. then i went on to continue being part of the war in vietnam. i mean it was just another day, kept going. i left vietnam, i came back home, i never knew anything about the award process until -- and i received the award on 1 may 1968. so now we're a year-and-a-half later and somebody came to me and said president of the united states is going to present this award to you. i was astonished. i was flabbergasted because this had all happened so long ago. but it takes a long time to go through that process. i would add to the fact that since world war ii, the criteria for the award has never changed. it's always been given to an individual who has achieved the gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. there must be incontestable proof. they have to have eyewitness statements of individual statements who were right there and had seen precisely what happened. but it is a comprehensive process because that process has to be consisten