Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Soldier’s Medal

    Service:

    United States Army Air Forces

    Rank:

    First Lieutenant (Air Corps)

    Action Date:

    October 30, 1935

    War Department, General Orders No. 4 (1936)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pride in presenting the Soldier’s Medal (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant (Air Corps) Robert K. Giovannoli, United States Army Air Forces, for heroism, not involving actual conflict with an enemy, displayed at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, 30 October 1935. When a Boeing experimental bomber crashed and burst into flames, Lieutenant Giovannoli, who was an onlooker, forced his way upon the fuselage and into the front cockpit of the burning plane and extricated one of the passengers. Then upon learning that the pilot was still in the cockpit, Lieutenant Giovannoli, realizing that his own life was in constant peril from fire, smoke, and fuel explosions, rushed back into the flames and after repeated and determined efforts, being badly burned in the attempt, succeeded in extricating the pilot from an entrapped position and assisting him to a place of safety.