The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Air Medal to Commander [then Lieutenant] Peter John Hughes (NSN: 0-77577), United States Navy, for meritorious achievement in aerial flight as Senior Officer and First Pilot of a Photographic Plane attached to a Photographic Plane attached to Photographic Squadron TWO during a hazardous air-sea rescue in Caribbean Waters on 18 January 1943. Despite dangerously heavy swells, Commander Hughes aided materially in executing a landing in an open sea to rescue Major General Max E. Schneider, AUS, who had been adrift on a small life raft for four days without water. His courage and airmanship were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.