Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Flying Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Chief Warrant Officer

    Action Date:

    July 25, 1958

    Department of the Army, General Orders No. 40 (December 9, 1958)

    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 Chief Warrant Officer Donald R. Joyce, United States Army, for heroism while participating in aerial flight as a member of the Transportation Environmental Operations Group, Fort Eustis, Virginia, in an aerial flight over the Greenland Icecap, east of Thule, Greenland, on 25 July 1958. When a United States Air Force helicopter with a crew of five was reported missing, Mister Joyce volunteered to participate in a search for the missing aircraft. Without concern for his own personal safety and the lack of navigational aids, conditions of extremely perilous weather, dangerously low visibility, high windy altitudes and blinding white-outs, he piloted an H-19D Helicopter 170 miles over a trail marked only with bamboo poles and successfully brought the rescue party to the crash scene. Upon discovering that the victims of the accident perished in the crash, he aided in recovering and identifying the bodies, notified the proper authorities and completed the round trip of approximately 400 miles under the same hazardous conditions without accident. Mister Joyce’s sustained and superior devotion to duty under extreme circumstances reflects the utmost credit upon himself and the military service.