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 Robert E. Laird, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight 19 June 1945. These individuals were crew members of a B-29 aircraft flying from a base in the Marianas on a bombardment of Shizuoka, Japan. They successfully made the long over-water flight to the assembly area in the face of possible ditching at sea because of mechanical malfunction. Heavy anti-aircraft and automatic weapons fire was encountered from the initial point throughout the bomb run. Despite this severe enemy opposition, they made a coordinated visual bomb run, scoring excellent results. Their work contributed substantially to the heavy destruction meted out to the objective. The courage, skill, and devotion to duty demonstrated by these veterans of repeated assaults against the Japanese mainland were material contributions to the successful accomplishment of this mission and reflect great credit on themselves and the Army Air Forces.