Laureled Sons of Dartmouth

Men Cited for Heroism and Meritorious Achievement

A RARE DISTINCTION has come to Lt. Everett W. Wood '38 USNR in the award he has won of the British Distinguished Flying Cross for meritorious service in Iceland last June.

Lt. Wood has been piloting P.B.Y'S for naval aviation since October 1941.

My informant, Bill Towler '13, thinks that only eight or ten Americans have been awarded this British medal.

Sorry I haven't more details.

CAPTAIN TRUMBULL HUNTINGTON '42 has completed his twenty-fifth bombing attack on targets in Germany and the occupied countries of Europe, according to a dispatch from an Eighth Army Air Force Bomber Command in England.

Navigator on the Eighth AAF Flying Fortress "Shackeroo II," Captain Huntington has been awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his achievements against the enemy.

Memorable among the experiences in aerial combat over Europe were two Nazi fighter plane attacks on Captain Huntington's plane during a Fortress bombing attack on the German railroad center at Bonn, in Western Germany, on the Rhine.

"We were attacked during the bomb run, over the target," Huntington related. "A Focke-Wulf 190 made a head-on attack, so fast that neither the bombardier nor I saw him. One of his 20 millimeter shells exploded on our number two propeller surface and entered one of the main wing tanks. If the shell had exploded in the tank, we'd have exploded instantly. As it was, all it did was open the tank."

As Captain Huntington's Fortress came out of the bomb run, a similar attack was made by another Nazi, opening a wing tank on the other wing.

"We trailed 'gas' all over Germany," said Huntington, "and landed on our base runway without enough gas to taxi to a hards trip."

Describing the terrific flak barrage encountered by the Fortresses over Bremen, vital German port battered on several occasions by the big Eighth AAF bombers, Captain Huntington recalled that flak hits on an engine had caused gasoline and oil to flow into the belly of the Fortress.

"We landed that day with five or six inches of gas and oil mixture sloshing around the floor of the ship," he said. "We really 'sweated out' that landing. One spark would have been enough to finish us right then and there."

Captain Huntington left Dartmouth in March, 1942, to enlist in the Army Air Force. He comes from Hartford, Connecticut.

MALCOLM DE SIEYES '40, now a sergeant in the AAF based in England has been awarded the Army Air Medal. The citation reads:

"For exceptionally meritorious achievement while participating in five separate bomber combat missions over enemy occupied continental Europe. The courage, coolness, and skill displayed by this enlisted man upon these occasions reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States."

It may be remembered that De Sieyes was called by the French Government to serve with the Armies of France. He was captured by the Germans and later escaped to this country. He became an American citizen and enlisted in the USAAF.

FIRST LIEUTENANT JOHN H. CARD III '43 is the veteran of twenty-six high altitude flights as navigator of a Flying Fortress, over Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and three Oak Leaf Clusters.

He served eight months abroad and is now back in this country. His parents live in Holbrook, Massachusetts, and his wife in Brookville, Mass.

LT. EVERETT W. WOOD '38 USNR has been honored with the rare award to an American of the British Distinguished Flying Cross.