The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Dennis T. Dinota (1858560), Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while servings as a Platoon Commander with Company M, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division in connection with operations against insurgent communist (Viet Cong) forces in the Republic of Vietnam. On 1 February 1967, during Operation DESOTO, the lead elements of Staff Sergeant Dinota's platoon came under heavy machine gun and sniper fire from Viet Cong located in a series of bunkers. He immediately moved to a position where he could direct the fire of his men. While pinpointing the enemy positions for one of his M- 60 machine gun teams, he was exposed to a heavy volume of enemy fire from at least six enemy bunkers. Realizing that another machine gun team had not located the enemy bunkers, he sprinted across sixty meters of exposed terrain to assist the team in locating the enemy targets. Directing the fire of 3.5 rocket launchers against the hostile positions, he succeeded in destroying one enemy bunker which produced a large secondary explosion. In addition, he effectively marked enemy positions which facilitated the accurate delivery of air and artillery fire, resulting in the subsequent destruction of a series of mutually supporting bunkers connected by trenches. As a result of his actions, the company was able to maintain its position and establish a defensive perimeter. During the engagement, when a fire team experienced difficulty in retrieving a wounded Marine, Staff Sergeant Dinota unhesitatingly assisted in retrieving the wounded man and carried him over forty meters of fire swept terrain to a position of safety. Throughout, Staff Sergeant Dinota displayed outstanding courage, exemplary professional skill and daring initiative in the face of heavy enemy fire, and thereby upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.