The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant (Air Corps) Eugene T. Bissinger (ASN: 0-828651), United States Army Air Forces, for gallantry in action while serving as Pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber of the FIFTEENTH Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater of Action on 20 April 1945. While on a mission over Northern Italy with a flight of B-17s, Lieutenant Bissinger’s plane was caught in a heavy concentration of enemy fire which disabled two engines and set one of them on fire. Realizing that the plane could not return to its base, Lieutenant Bissinger remained at the controls and ordered his crew to bail out. When he thought that they had done so he left the controls of the ship as it neared a mountainside, but found that his navigator had not left the ship, so he returned to the controls, successfully steering the ship around the mountain and into a skillful crash landing, saving his life and that of the navigator. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army Air Forces.