Edward Clyde Benfold (January 15, 1931 – September 5, 1952) was a United States Navy hospital corpsman third class who was killed in action while attached to a Marine Corps rifle company during the Battle of Bunker Hill (1952) in the Korean War.

On July 16, 1953, The medal was presented by Rear Admiral John H. Brown Jr., Commandant of the 4th Naval District, to his one-year-old son, Edward Joseph, who was his next of kin (NOK) as his wife remarried.

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Hospital Corpsman, attached to a company in the First Marine Division during operations against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on September 5, 1952.

When his company was subjected to heavy artillery and mortar barrages, followed by a determined assault during the hours of darkness by an enemy force estimated at battalion strength, HC3c.

Leaving the protection of his sheltered position to treat the wounded when the platoon area in which he was working was attacked from both the front and the rear, he moved forward to an exposed ridge line where he observed two Marines in a large crater.

BENFOLD leaped out of the crater and hurled himself against the onrushing hostile soldiers, pushing the grenades against their chests and killing both the attackers.

BENFOLD, by his great personal valor and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death, was directly responsible for saving the lives of his two comrades.