The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Ensign Francis E. Pinter, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary achievement in the line of his profession, displayed on 9 March 1942, while participating in aerial flights at Pilot of a U.S. Navy Patrol Plane, at sea near San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ensign Pinter, at the hazard of disabling damage to his plane and at the risk of his own life and the lives of his crew landed his patrol plane in a rough sea and rescued sixteen men and one woman, survivors from a torpedoed steamship who had been adrift on a raft for sixty hours without food or water. After the survivors were aboard Ensign Pinter took off his overloaded and overcrowded patrol plane from the rough sea in an outstanding display of skill and airmanship without jettisoning bombs or fuel. He then flew to the nearest Navy Base, searching for submarines en route. This action, which undoubtedly saved the lives of many of the survivors, reflects great credit upon Ensign Pinter and the United States Naval Service.