Navy Federal Credit Union

Charles Lindbergh served in the Missouri National Guard and Reserves. During World War II he flew combat missions in the Pacific with Marine Ace Joe Foss and Army Ace Thomas McGuire. While on a mission with McGuire he shot down one Japanese plane, but because as a civilian advisor such combat missions were not authorized, it was not officially credited to him. Charles Lindbergh held the record in the Caterpillar Club (airmen forced to bail out of an airplane) with FOUR emergency jumps.

Awards Received

  • Medal of Honor

    Service:

    United States Army Air Corps

    Rank:

    Captain (Air Corps)

    Division:

    Air Corps (Reserve)

    Action Date:

    May 20 & 21, 1927

    War Department, General Orders 5 (1928) Act of Congress

    The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Captain Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., United States Army Air Corps (Reserve), for displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the “Spirit of St. Louis,” from New York City to Paris, France, 20 – 21 May 1927, by which Captain Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible.

  • Distinguished Flying Cross

    Service:

    United States Army Air Corps

    Rank:

    Captain (Air Corps)

    Action Date:

    May 20 – 21, 1927

    War Department, General Orders No. 8 (1927)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain (Air Corps) Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight and in recognition of his courage, his skill, and his resourcefulness in piloting unaccompanied The Spirit of St. Louis from New York City across the Atlantic Ocean to Paris, France, on 20 – 21 May 1927, a distance of 3,600 miles, the longest nonstop flight ever made by man.