(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: 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 First Lieutenant (Air Corps) James D. Cummins, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight while serving as Assistant Wing Navigator of the 49th Bombardment Wing, on a mission to Vienna, Austria, on 21 February 1945. On that date his B-24 Liberator bomber was so damaged by anti-aircraft fire that the crew was forced to bail out behind enemy lines. Lieutenant Cummings passed the word to lighten the ship and one of the crew tossed out his maps with everything else he could spare, so he navigated by memory towards Russian lines. When it came time to abandon ship, he helped bail out the wounded and the others. Then just before the pilot, he himself bailed out of his crippled aircraft.