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 Staff Sergeant Alfred S. Farrington (ASN: 35357629), United States Army Air Forces, for distinguished and meritorious achievement as a member of the 515th Bombardment Squadron, 376th Bombardment Group, NINTH Air Force, in operations against the Ploesti Oil Refineries of Romania on 1 August 1943. By their efforts in the successful completion of one of the longest, most difficult, and most damaging raids ever made against the enemy in the present war, this combat crew-member has won recognition as a man of outstanding flying ability and courage. The long flight to the target required endurance and skill of the highest order; the approach to the target itself, which was encircled with the deadliest ring of anti-aircraft installations in Europe, demanded daring and intrepidity. That the task was accomplished, and the refineries, of enormous importance to the Axis war machine, were very largely destroyed, is due in great measure to the skill and valor in action of the men of the 515th Bombardment Squadron.