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The articles above came from my grandfather's local paper and church bulletin in Bloomfield, NJ, where he lived before and after the war. As the articles state, my grandfather received the Air Medal a second time for completing ten sorties. Each five subsequent missions resulted in another award of the medal (oak leaf cluster), and thus every member of the crew eventually received the Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters. Each crew member also had the E.T.O ribbon with two bronze stars, the Presidential Unit Citation with one oak leaf cluster, the American Defense Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. Each mission/sortie counted for one point against the 25 sorties or points that were required to complete a tour, wich resulted in the awarding of the Distinguished Flying Cross. It was possible to be awarded the DFC with less than 25 sorties, since a confirmed kill would earn a crew member extra points. Two of the crew received this award: Sam Simms was credited with a BF-109, which earned him five points, and Frank Selover with a BF-110. LT Mears also received the Purple Heart because of his slight injuries when German fighters shot down his aircraft.
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