Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Flying Cross

    Service:

    United States Army Air Forces

    Rank:

    Flight Officer

    Action Date:

    June 26, 1945

    Citation Courtesy of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society – www.dfcsociety.org

    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 Flight Officer William J. Bittles, Jr., United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight 26 June 1945. These individuals were combat crew members of a B-29 flying from a base in the Marianas to bomb the Mitsubishi aircraft company at Kagamigahara, Japan. Three enemy fighter planes made individual head-on attacks, accurate and heavy anti-aircraft fire was encountered, and adverse weather conditions hampered the crew in their attempt to fly the briefed course. Despite the hazardous flying conditions, these crew members efficiently and courageously performed their specific tasks, making a bomb run on the briefed approach to the target area, and achieving excellent results. The skill, courage, determination and devotion to duty displayed by these veterans of repeated assaults against the Japanese homeland in the face of extremely hazardous flying conditions reflect great credit on themselves and the Army Air Forces.