The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Commander Thomas W. McKnight, United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during World War II. Determining that the removal of a 500-pound bomb inadvertently released in the closed bomb bay of a plane would be too dangerous, Lieutenant Commander McKnight personally piloted the plane seaward. Finding the tail fins had further wedged the bomb in the plane structure, he rolled the plane violently, breaking the hold and clearing the bomb, which exploded on impact with the water.