Honored For Java Flight.
HONORED FOR JAVA FLIGHT
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Bomber's Crew of Eight Get the
Distinguished Flying Cross
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WASHINGTON, May 6 (AP)--The award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to eight officers and enlisted men of the Air Corps for a hazardous and technically difficult flight "on an urgent and vital mission" to the Netherlands Indies was announced today by the War Department.
The men formed the crew of an Army bomber, which was subjected to a bombing raid at Palembang, Java. It also was struck by lightning during a severe electrical storm and burned in several places, but nevertheless returned to Washington with its mission successfully completed.
The members of the crew were First Lieutenant Richard T. Kight of Lubbock, Texas, the pilot; First Lieutenant Kenneth L. Akins, Sacramento, Calif., co-pilot; Second Lieutenant Charles T. Allen, Birmingham, Ala., first navigator; Second Lieutenant John G. Moe, Philadelphia, second navigator; Technical Sergeant James M. Cooper, Philadelphia, first engineer; Technical Sergeant Harry Smith, Brooklyn, N. Y., second engineer; Sergeant Richard J. Barrett Jr., Philadelphia, first radio operator, and Staff Sergeant Errol W. Wynkoop, Pottsville, Pa., second radio operator.
Source:
Unknown, "Honored For Java Flight, Bomber's Crew of Eight Get the Distinguished Flying Cross," The New York Times, New York, Thursday, 7 May 1942, p. 5.
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