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) Ernest L. Smith, U.S. Army Air Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. On 14 – 15 July 1927, Lieutenant Smith piloted an airplane on a nonstop flight from Oakland, California, to the Island of Molokal, Hawaii, a distance of 2,340 miles, in 25 hours and 36 minutes. In accomplishing this extraordinary achievement, Lieutenant Smith first demonstrated the possibility of communication between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands with smaller commercial planes and by his exhibition of courage, skill, and resourcefulness reflected great credit to himself and the Army of the United States.