AWARDED DFC: 2
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  WWII
MODEL:  B-29

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Staff Sergeant Vernon G. Widmayer, Air Corps, United States Army, Left Gunner for extraordinary achievement while participating in a low-level night incendiary raid over the city of Nagoya, Japan 19 March 1945 as a combat crew member of a B-29 Superfortress based in the Marianas. At the beginning of the bomb run his aircraft was picked up and held by fifteen to twenty searchlights. Intense and accurate enemy flak was directed against the plane. Two engines were hit, but despite the danger involved, he kept on the bombing run at reduced speed. Before bombs away the ship was hit sixty times. Dauntlessly the crew made a successful run, with the projectiles dropping squarely on the aiming point. After bombs away numerous night fighters were driven off by crew teamwork and excellent gunnery. Despite the extreme mechanical and navigational problems involved in flying the badly damaged bomber, a safe return to his home base was accomplished after a long perilous 1500 mile over-water flight. The outstanding airmanship, teamwork, and devotion to duty displayed by Staff Sergeant Widmayer as a veteran of repeated assaults against the Japanese homeland reflect great credit on himself and the Army Air Forces.