AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  -
MODEL:  B-29

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Sergeant Ross H. Mergenthaler for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight over Japan on 7 April 1945. Sargeant Mergenthaler was a member of a B-29 crew which participated in an unprecedented medium altitude daylight attack on the Musashino Aircraft Engine Plant in Tokyo, Japan. Enemy opposition was extraordinarily effective and the aircraft suffered severe battle damage from intense anti-aircraft fire throughout the bomb run. The aircraft was rendered incapable of maximum effective protective fire because of the destruction of its lower turrets by enemy anti-aircraft fire. At land's end a deliberate collision by an enemy fighter was avoided by a violent climb. The enemy pressed unrelenting fighter attacks until a point thirty miles out to sea was reached. Because of damage to instrumental aids, the aircraft made its three-engine flight back to its base under the most unfavorable navigational conditions and was under constant danger of a forced landing hundreds of miles out to sea in enemy waters. The mental stability under fire, the courage and high professional skill displayed by these individuals resulted in the most efficient and highest degree of cooperation in the emergencies encountered during this mission and reflect great credit on themselves and the Army Air Forces.