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 Colonel Francesco De Pinedo, Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautics), for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. Colonel De Pinedo, by his exceptional skill and daring and sound judgment, successfully negotiated the dangers of a trans-Atlantic flight, courageously crossed the jungles of Brazil, and overcame countless other obstacles, thereby successfully completing a journey of 25,000 miles by flying boat in the course of which he arrived in the United States in March 1927, by air from Rome.