The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to
*HUGHES, LLOYD H.
(Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 564th Bomber
Squadron, 389th Bomber Group, 9th Air Force. Place and date: Ploesti Raid, Rumania,
1 August 1943. Entered service at: San Antonio, Tex. Born: 12 July 1921,
Alexandria, La. G.O. No: 17, 26 February 1944.
Citation:
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. |
