The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit to Sergeant Kenneth Markel (ASN: 18029384), United States Army Air Forces, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy. On 17 September 1942, Sergeant Markel unscrewed a fuse from a one hundred pound bomb which had accidentally been armed and dropped from a parked P-39. Sergeant Markel was in the near vicinity when the bomb was dropped. There were about fifteen other enlisted men and five or six planes in the near vicinity. Someone exclaimed when the bomb was dropped and as cannon shells from enemy guns had been dropping within a few yards during the morning one of the men thought another shell was coming and threw himself flat on the ground close to the bomb, not knowing it would go off in 45 seconds. Sergeant Markel ran up to the bomb, unscrewed the fuse, carried it in his hand for several feet and threw it over an embankment. The fuse exploded just before striking the ground. Had it not been for Sergeant Markel’s prompt action, in all probability several men would have been killed and at least two or three P-39s would have been destroyed. Except for Sergeant Markel’s total disregard for his own safety and life the loss of life and property damage would have resulted.