The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Second Lieutenant (Air Corps) Arthur M. Wright, Jr. (ASN: 0-790447), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight off Vella LaVella, Solomon Islands, 20 July 1943. Penetrating heavy anti-aircraft fire to bomb an enemy task force at low altitude, the crew of a B-25 airplane, of which he was co-pilot, set one ship afire and was credited with the destruction of a Japanese cruiser by two direct hits amidships.