For extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight on 2 June 1945. These individuals were part of the crew of a B-29 aircraft based in the Marianas Islands that directed the rescue of ten Army fliers from hostile waters on the vicinity of the Japan Homeland. Flying their aircraft at altitudes ranging from 100 to 500 feet in such bad weather that they were on instruments for ten hours, this gallant crew located the survivors who were in lifeboat. By an exceptionally skillful use of instruments they directed a nearby submarine to the men lost at sea. They then circled in the immediate area giving course corrections to the naval craft until the ten men were reported safely aboard. Although the elapsed time from the receipt of the first SOS until the rescue was approximately four hours, and their aircraft was at extremely low altitude, this rescue team was not once able to make visual sighting of either the submarine or the men they were instrumental in saving. By their display of professional skill and outstanding airmanship, this crew successfully completed an exacting assignment that resulted in the saving of ten highly trained airmen, thereby reflecting great credit on themselves and Army Air Force.

First Lieutenant Robert S. Laack, -------, Air Corps, United States Army.

Second Lieutenant Wilbur W. Wiley, -------, Air Corps, United States Army.

Second Lieutenant Edward M. Coon, --------, Air Corps, United States Army.