Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
76-104-3-3 C |
Object Name |
Ribbon, Military |
Description |
US Army Air Corps medal - Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to Ralph Wilcox. See notes. |
Provenance |
Ralph Wilcox served in the Army in WWI and the Army Air Corps in WWII. In WWII, he flew 52 bombing missions over Japan as a raconteur photographer, retiring as a Major. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Republic of China Medal. |
Collection |
Ralph Wilcox |
Notes |
Per Ralph Wilcox's memoir: Upon arrival back at Chenking, several of the flying boys and I were called up to Kunming where General Claire Chennault pinned this medal on our blouses. His face was pock-marked and he was a rough looking General. I think I was awarded for missions flown and perhaps for the following incident. Coming back from a mission over Canton, I could see that some of our bombs hadn't ejected and were hanging precariously from the racks. They were armed, of course. I hurried to the flight deck and came back with the plane's engineer who knew how to release them. We opened the bomb bay doors by pulling an emergency handle. We had to walk the narrow "catwalk" with plenty of cold air and lots of nothing below us. I hung to the rack sides and held him while he released the bomb. If we had landed without releasing the bombs, we could have blown up. The bombs were never armed until we were about to go over a target but this occurred on the return trip. |