Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Flying Cross

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Lieutenant Commander

    Action Date:

    July 26 – 27, 1958

    All Hands (December 1959)

    The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Morton L. Lewis, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as Pilot and Observer of a two-man, Navy Strato-Lab balloon and gondola during a daring and hazardous ascent into the upper stratosphere on 26 – 27 July 1958. Testing aloft, under actual operating conditions, a new-type, sealed environment in the gondola, Lieutenant Commander Lewis, determined the maximum effectiveness of this entirely new system, voluntarily removing his helmet and oxygen mask, except for take-off and landing, for the duration of the flight at pressure altitudes ranging from 29,500 feet to 82,000 feet and thus risking his life in the event of decompression. Contributing an unofficial world endurance record for sustained flight in the stratosphere of 34 hours and 39 minutes, he also participated in approximately 27 other scientific experiments.