AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  Vietnam
MODEL:  C-47

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Staff Sergeant Wilbert Castaneda for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as a Flight Mechanic of a C-47 aircraft in the Republic of Vietnam, on 13 May 1967. On that date, while returning from a night psychological warfare mission, Staff Sergeant Castaneda and his crew were called upon by a friendly hamlet and an outpost that were under attack by unfriendly forces. Despite the danger from hostile automatic weapons, Staff Sergeant Castaneda employed all his skills and knowledge as a Flight Mechanic, combined his highly professional abilities with those of his crew, located and expeditiously relayed vital information to the proper agency and requested combat assistance be dispatched immediately. Staff Sergeant Castaneda and his crew had completed a highly-specialized psychological warfare mission. They further employed skill and coordination without regard for their own safety, which led to saving a friendly Vietnamese hamlet and United States outpost and elimination of a dangerous hostile threat. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Staff Sergeant Castaneda reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.