B-24 pilot receives DFC 69 years later

Serving as the historian for a 15th AF bomb group's Association means fielding many requests for information from veterans and their families. A B-24 pilot told his son that he was supposed to have been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross but never received it. The son recently contacted the Association about how to obtain the DFC for his 92 year old father.

The easy part was confirming that the pilot had indeed been recommended for the DFC, as the recommend citation and narrative statement were in the Bomb Group's files. The pilot was recommended for taking his badly damaged aircraft over the target and then getting it safely back to base. This occured on the pilot's 50th and final mission, so within a couple of weeks he was rotated home before the 15th AF General Order which included the authorization for this DFC was published. The G.O. never caught up with the pilot's records, so he never received the award.

After the recommended citation was located, the pilot's grandson - who served in the 82nd Airborne and apparently still has some good connections at the Pentagon - took the bull by the horns. Within days, Fedex delivered the long overdue DFC to the 92 year old pilot.
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At last, this is excellent news !

 

It's great to hear that he finally received his DFC. Was there a news story on this? If not, someone should call in a tip to the local media. This is a great story.