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

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Major Eugene D. McHugh for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as a Forward Air Controller in Southeast Asia on 24 April 1973. On that date, Major McHugh piloted his lightly armed OV-10 aircraft in support of an allied unit under attack from heavily armed hostile forces. Despite deteriorating weather conditions, he directed tactical fighters on the enemy locations resulting in two military-occupied structures destroyed and thirty hostile troops killed by air, thus allowing the allied unit to capture the enemy location. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Major McHugh reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.