The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Commander James David LaHaye, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as Pilot of an F-8D Crusader aircraft on 8 May 1965, while serving as Commanding Officer of Fighter Squadron ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN (VF-111), aboard U.S.S. MIDWAY (CVA-41), during operations against enemy aggressor forces in Vietnam. Leading a flight of eight aircraft on an anti-aircraft suppression mission against an enemy airfield, Commander LaHaye, in the face of heavy hostile anti-aircraft fire, initiated the strike for Attack Carrier Air Wing TWO and struck his target with devastating effect. When his aircraft sustained severe damage from anti-aircraft fire, he piloted the stricken jet through intense opposition away from enemy territory to the open sea.