For heroic achievement while serving with a Vietnamese Navy SEAL team engaged in armed conflict against the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong communist aggressors in the Republic of Vietnam. On 15 October 1971, Lieutenant (junior grade) DOCTON was serving as an advisor on a security support mission for two squads on patrol when one squad received enemy rocket and automatic weapons fire from the opposite canal bank. Reacting immediately, he advised that his sampan proceed to the middle of the canal and provide supporting fire for the engaged squad. As the sampan moved up the canal between the enemy and friendly forces, Lieutenant (junior grade) DOCTON and his boat crew concentrated a heavy volume of grenade and machine gun fire into the enemy positions. At that time an enemy rocket struck near the sampan, wounding Lieutenant (junior grade) DOCTON. Ceasing fire only long enough to extract the shrapnel from his back, he continued to bombard the hostile position with deadly effective grenade fire, successfully suppressing the enemy's fire and enabling the exposed squad to move to more protective positions. Lieutenant (junior grade) DOCTON's exemplary professionalism, devotion to duty, and courage under fire reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.