The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Second Lieutenant James W. Anderson, Jr., United States Army Air Corps (Reserve), for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy, while serving with the Air Reserve, in rescuing two officers from a burning airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, on 11 April 1939. When an experimental airplane undergoing an acceptance test suddenly went out of control and crashed in a small tree-studded field. It was almost completely demolished and immediately caught fire. Lieutenant Anderson who had been riding in the rear gun turret of the ship was able to extricate himself from the wreckage, but the pilot and another officer passenger, trapped in the cockpit and unable to free themselves, were in imminent danger of being burned to death. Seeing the peril of the two imprisoned officers and despite the fact that it was obvious that the fire would reach the gasoline tanks of the ship at any moment, Lieutenant Anderson, with disregard of his personal safety, ran back to the ship, tore the covering from the cockpit, and pulled the two trapped officers out of the ship to safety, just before the gasoline tanks exploded creating a conflagration from which it would have been impossible for them to have escaped. The heroism displayed by Lieutenant Anderson on this occasion reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.