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) Jack M. Lewis, 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 Romania on 1 August 1943. Those aircrew members of the 514th Bombardment Squadron, 376th Bombardment Group, played an indispensable role in this mass low-level assault on one of the most important production centers of the Axis. Throughout a long, hazardous and difficult mission, they consistently displayed fortitude, airmanship and aggressiveness of the highest order, fighting their way through what seemed an impenetrable wall of anti-aircraft fire to blast and destroy targets of the greatest value to the enemy. Each of them has won true distinction in an operation of the greatest significance.