"For conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his
life above and beyond the call of duty. On August 1943, 2d Lt. Hughes
served in the capacity of pilot of a heavy bombardment aircraft
participating in a long and hazardous minimum-altitude attack against
the Axis
oil refineries of Ploesti, Rumania, launched from the northern shores
of Africa. Flying in the last formation to attack the target, he arrived
in the target area after previous flights had thoroughly alerted the
enemy defenses. Approaching the target through intense and accurate
antiaircraft fire and dense balloon barrages at dangerously low
altitude, his plane received several direct hits from both large and
small caliber antiaircraft guns which seriously damaged his aircraft,
causing sheets of escaping gasoline to stream from the bomb bay and from
the left wing. This damage was inflicted at a time prior to reaching
the target when 2d Lt. Hughes could have made a forced landing in any of
the grain fields readily available at that time. The target area was
blazing with burning oil tanks and damaged refinery installations from
which flames leaped high above the bombing level of the formation. With
full knowledge of the consequences of entering this blazing inferno when
his airplane was profusely leaking gasoline in two separate locations,
2d Lt. Hughes, motivated only by his high conception of duty which
called for the destruction of his assigned target at any cost, did not
elect to make a forced landing or turn back from the attack. Instead,
rather than jeopardize the formation and the success of the attack, he
unhesitatingly entered the blazing area and dropped his bomb load with
great precision. After successfully bombing the objective, his aircraft
emerged from the conflagration with the left wing aflame. Only then did
he attempt a forced landing, but because of the advanced stage of the
fire enveloping his aircraft the plane crashed and was consumed. By 2d
Lt. Hughes' heroic decision to complete his mission regardless of the
consequences in utter disregard of his own life, and by his gallant and
valorous execution of this decision, he has rendered a service to our
country in the defeat of our enemies which will everlastingly be
outstanding in the annals of our Nation's history."
From 2nd Lt. Hughes Medal of Honor citation, awarded on April 18, 1944.
May you be at peace,
Brian & Mel
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