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 Warrant Officer Junior Grade Luama W. Mays, United States Army, for heroism while participating in aerial flight over the Greenland icecap east of Thule Greenland, on 11 May 1955. While flying an Army helicopter in formation with two others on an assigned mission, Warrant Officer Mays and the two other pilots were forced to make an emergency landing due to the sudden closing in of a limited area of very low visibility. The two accompanying helicopters crashed in landing, killing the pilot and injuring the passenger in one. Warrant Officer Mays made a hard landing in his aircraft. After about 1 hour of futile attempts to summon aid by radio, Warrant Officer Mays voluntarily took off with the injured passenger despite the forbidding weather and an out-of-balance condition in the mast of his helicopter. He then continued to fly for a period of approximately 3 hours, making five takeoffs and six landings under arctic whiteout conditions which much of the time precluded observation of the horizon or the ice surface. During this period Warrant Officer Mays flew some 80 miles to deliver the injured officer to a shelter, report the crash to an icecap party, pick up and deliver a medical Aidman to the injured officer, and fly to the crash scene to pick up and return the uninjured pilot to the shelter. During these flights he was almost forced to land involuntarily several times due to lack of adequate visibility. This voluntary mission was accomplished at great personal danger in view of the hazardous weather conditions, lack of equipment for instrument flight, the undetermined degree of damage to his aircraft, and the fact that it was Warrant Officer Mays’ first operation flight in Greenland. His display of sustained heroism reflects great credit on himself and the military service.