(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Second Lieutenant (Air Corps) John G. Caraberis (ASN: 0-791362), United States Army Air Forces, for gallantry in action while serving as Pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber of the 348th Bombardment Squadron, 99th Bombardment Group (Heavy), FIFTEENTH Air Force, in action over Italy on 2 September 1943. On that date, Lieutenant Caraberis was piloting his bomber toward a target in Italy when it was raked by 20-mm. cannon fire, one shell wounding him in the leg and face. Despite his injuries and overwhelming pain he was able to continue flying the badly damaged heavy bomber and coordinated the crew’s aerial gunners, who destroyed two enemy fighters. With the treat from the air neutralized, Lieutenant Caraberis struggled to bring the bomber as close as he could to a neutral country to avoid being imprisoned by the Nazis before ordering his crew to parachute out of the aircraft. Although captured and partly crippled by his wounds and suffering intense pain, Lieutenant Caraberis successfully persuaded the Italian authorities to keep his crew out of German control. He then planned and led a successful escape, organizing his fellow Allied prisoners into a passive intelligence-gathering organization, hiding in the snowy mountains, successfully evading enemy patrols and working with the local underground resistance movement. Lieutenant Caraberis planned successful escape routs in which his carefully trained intelligence gatherers were able to get back to Allied control and report the location of enemy gun emplacements, arsenals, road and rail traffic, food stores and petroleum storage areas that prove to be valuable to the Allied offensive. When his health had improved, he personally led a large group of Allied personnel right up to the Allied lines, before he was discovered by the enemy and critically wounded. His warning however, to those following him enabled them to avoid capture and return to Allied control. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Lieutenant Caraberis has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Corps.