AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  -
MODEL:  -

Citation:  1.) The AWARD OF THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS TO Melvin F. Larson In June 1943 my original combat crew was formed as part of thirty-six B-17 combat crews at Salt Lake City. We trained at Moses Lake and Gieger Field (Spokane) and Pendleton, Oregon. We had trained for combat in the Pacific, However, our group; The Richens Provisional in October 1943 was given a priority movement to be sent to the 8th Air Force in England, The 8th had suffered heavy losses and all B-17 and B-24 crews available were rushed to England as replacements crews. We flew our first combat mission on Nov, 29, 1943, to Bremerhaven, Germany. We lost two crews; on this mission, from our ordinal group. On December 29, 1943, flak hit the nose section and one piece tore a piece out of my oxygen hose. Changing from a wet mask to an ice cold one it froze to my face, resulting in a severe case of frostbite that grounded me for three weeks. Another piece of flak hit me in my upper left shoulder shorting out my heated suit and cutting into my A-2 jacket. It did not penetrate the skin but left a nasty black and blue bruise. I removed the piece of flak and it is a paper weight on my desk. The Flight Surgeon told me that if this piece of flak had hit me two inches higher it would have severed a blood vessel that would have been fatal. March 6,1944 was the historical first daylight mission over Berlin, We witnessed death and destruction never before seen in air-to-air combat. The flak over Berlin was so thick that some Pilots kidded that they should put their wheels down and drive over the target, Our Bomb Group had been fortunate until we were two-thirds on our return leg when we were viciously attacked by FW-190's. The German Pilots seemed to flying suicide mission. In a period of a few minutes our group lost SEVEN Fortresses. Our 17 was under attack" by two 190's. We lost number three engine that feathered properly. Number two prop became a windmill prop. Our Pilot (Lt, Mike Soldato) put our bomber in a steep dive from 25,000 to 10,000 feet before he leveled off. The prop then went into a feathered position but we were still under attack by the two FW-190. Just when our Pilot was about to hit the Bail out button an Angel dove out of the sky in the form of a P-47 fighter. Our two adversaries then took off in a hasty retreat being pursued by the Thunderbolt. Later it returned and flew along the Pilots side, When Lt, Soldato asked who our savior was the answer came back in a casual voice; " Just call me Gabby". Our crew had been saved by Major Francis Gabby Gabreski who escorted us back to Knettishall. Our crew had the opportunity to offer our heartfelt thanks to Major Gabreski. I had my Brownie 127 camera and took a picture of Major Gabreski escorting us back as we were flying over the English Channel. This is one of my prized photos of WWII. My original crew was shot down on 5 Jan 1944 over Bordeaux, France flying their tenth combat mission. I then became a spare Toggalier/Bombardier, I was the only one of our original crew to complete a tour of flying combat missions.