Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Flying Cross

    Service:

    United States Army Air Forces

    Rank:

    Staff Sergeant

    Batallion:

    512th Bombardment Squadron

    Regiment:

    376th Bombardment Group (H)

    Division:

    9th Air Force

    Action Date:

    August 1, 1943

    Headquarters, 9th Air Force, General Orders No. 85 (September 9, 1943)

    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 Hayes B. Callahan (ASN: 36352934), United States Army Air Forces, for distinguished and meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight against the enemy in operations against the Ploesti Oil Refineries of Rumania on 1 August 1943. Staff Sergeant Callahan, of the 512th Bombardment Squadron, 376th Bombardment Group, NINTH Air Force his part valorously and well in one of the most spectacular, daring and destructive raids ever attempted in aviation history. Skimming in at a level barely above the installations to be attacked, they encountered withering, gunfire from some of the world’s heaviest concentrations of anti-aircraft batteries. Yet he continued in the performance of his duty, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, bombed and strafed with enormously destructive effect the heart of the enemy’s fuel supply. His success in this most daring and hazardous enterprise not only brought great honor to himself, but contributed definitely to the final defeat of the enemy and the shortening of the war.