The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Thomas J. Aylward, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as co-pilot of a patrol plane during an engagement with an enemy submarine in the Atlantic on 7 August 1943. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Aylward aided in pressing home an aggressive attack on the submarine even though he was painfully wounded in the head and leg by a direct hit, which also shattered the planes starboard engine. He later aided in effecting a perfect water landing.