(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Second Lieutenant (Air Corps) Conrad Blythe Richards (ASN: 0-764091), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a B-17 Heavy Bomber in the 325th Bombardment Squadron, 92d Bombardment Group (H), EIGHTH Air Force, while participating in a bombing mission on 5 October 1944, against enemy targets at Cologne, Germany, in the European Theater of Operations. As his plane was returning to its base in England, it experienced a mechanical failure and ditched in the English Channel. Second Lieutenant Richards and two other crew members were killed in action; the other six crew members were rescued and returned to duty. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Second Lieutenant Richards on this occasion, at the cost of his life, have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 8th Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.