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 Staff Sergeant John F. Heistand (ASN: 13031805), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as photographer in a B-26 type aircraft. From 4 April 1943 to 15 May 1944, Sergeant Heistand distinguished himself through outstanding professional skill and resourcefulness. On many missions over heavily defended objectives, he has secured obliques and bomb-strike photographs which have been officially recognized as among the finest ever produced in this theater. Often while suffering from severe physical discomfort, he has operated his camera from places of vantage to obtain pictures of target areas and bomb coverage, thus providing information of inestimable value to military intelligence study. On 20 April 1944, while his aircraft was under intense fire from ground batteries, he photographed the target area at ******* so expertly that his pictures were subsequently cited as exceptional examples of combat photography.