President Roosevelt authorized the Air Medal by Executive Order on May 11, 1942 “for award to any person who, while serving in any capacity in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States subsequent to September 8, 1939, distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself by meritorious achievement while participating in an aerial flight.” [1]  It was amended in September of that year to read “….in any capacity in or with…” [2]

Designed by Walker Hancock, the Secretary of War approved his design from those submitted on December 31, 1942.  [3]  The bronze medal is a compass rose, suspended from a Fleur-de-lis with an American Eagle swooping with lightening bolts in it’s claws superimposed on the obverse.  The reverse is blank and named examples typically include the recipients name, rank, and sometimes date of award.  The suspense and accompanying ribbon is ultramarine blue and golden orange, reminiscent of the colors of the Army Air Corps.  By the end of the war, over a million Air Medals (many awarded as Oak Leaf Clusters) were presented to Army Air Forces Airmen, with smaller numbers awarded to naval aviators. [4]

The historian Stephen Ambrose describes the environment (specifically of the B-24 Liberator aircrews) that many American airmen flew in as:

“Breathing was possible only by wearing an oxygen mask — cold and clammy, smelling of rubber and sweat — above 10,000 feet in altitude.  There was no heat, despite temperatures [that]got as low as 40 or even 50 degrees below zero…The oxygen mask often froze to the wearers face….

“There were no bathrooms.  To urinate there were two small relief tubes, one forward and one aft, which were almost impossible to use without spilling because of the heavy layers of clothing the men wore.  Plus which the tubes were often clogged with frozen urine.  Defecating could be done only in a receptacle lined with a way paper bag…  With no pressurization, pockets of gas in a man’s intestinal tract could swell like balloons and cause him to double over in pain.

“The seats were not padded, could not be relined, and were cramped into so small a space that a man had almost no chance to stretch and none whatsoever to relax.” [5]

To add to the harsh conditions of aerial flight in unpressurized aircraft, the casualty rates among the Army Air Forces was significant.  The Eighth Air Force accounted for half the casualties of the entire Army Air Forces with 47,483 out of 115,332 airmen killed, wounded, or missing in action.  Over 26,000 of those casualties were Airmen killed in action. [6]  By comparison, the entire United States Marine Corps suffered 24,511 killed in action during World War II. [7]

The importance of establishing this medal to recognize the sacrifices of the Airmen flying into harms way during the Second World War cannot be underestimated.  Colonel Frank Foster and Larry Borts described it in Military Medals of the United States, as “The Air Medal helped keep morale up in a force that suffered the highest casualty rate of the war after the Infantry.” [8]

This period example of the Air Medal is in a “coffin case” with an accompanying ribbon bar with an Air Medal ribbon with Oak Leaf Cluster the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal ribbon with four campaign stars.  While it is unable to definitively link these unnamed medals to a specific service member, they were acquired together as a “grouping” and are representative of the airmanship and skill demonstrated by the Airmen of World War II.

SOURCES:

1.)  Roosevelt, Franklin D.  Executive Order 9158.  The White House.  May 11, 1942.

2.)  Roosevelt, Franklin D.  Executive Order 9242-A.  The White House.  September 11, 1942.

3.)  Spink, Barry L.  Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal Criteria in the Army Air Forces in World War II.  Air Force Historical Research Agency.  March 4, 2010.  Pg. 3

4.)  Col. Foster, Frank and Larry Borts.  Military Medals of the United States.  MOA Press.  Fountain Inn, SC.  2011.  Pg 102.

5.)  Ambrose, Stephen.  The Wild Blue.  Simon & Schuster.  New York, NY.  2001.  Pp. 21 – 22.

6.)  Eighth Air Force History Fact Sheet.  https://www.8af.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/333794/eighth-air-force-history/  Accessed February 21, 2020.

7.)  DeBruyne, Nese F.  American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics.  Report Number: RL32492.  Congressional Research Service.  September 24, 2019.

8.)  Col. Foster, Frank and Larry Borts.  Military Medals of the United States.  MOA Press.  Fountain Inn, SC.  2011.  Pg 102.