American Air Museum in Britain

Official USAAF photo. Original caption : “Major General Carl Spaatz, Commanding General of the Air Forces, ETOUSA, of Earleville, Pennsylvania decorates airmen at their base in England. Officers who received the Distinguished Flying Cross are 2nd Lt Richard F. Starks, Midway, Ky., 1st Lt Frank R. Beadle, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1st Lt Levon L. Ray, Pooleville, Texas (who is shown being decorated by Maj. General Spaatz and Brig. General Ira C. Eaker of Llane County, Texas).” ► Note : The ceremony took place at Polebrook on 17 September 1942. The medal awarded to Starks, Beadle and Ray was not the Distinguished Flying Cross but the Distinguished Service Cross. Not mentioned in the caption is Lt Ewart T. Sconiers, seen here at extreme left, who was also awarded the DSC for his action on return from the 21 August 1942 mission to Rotterdam. Sconiers was Bombardier on board “Johnny Reb” 41-9089 that day. Germans fighters hit the B-17 which lagged behind the formation, killing the Co-Pilot Lt Donald A. Walter and seriously wounding the Pilot, Richard S. Starks (2nd from left, with his right hand still bandaged in the photo). Sconiers, who had washed out of pilot training school, managed to pilot the plane safely back to England, adding the DSC to the Purple Heart he had received for wounds in an earlier mission.

Connections