MICHAEL, EDWARD S. - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 364th
Bomber Squadron, 305th Bomber Group. Place and date: Over Germany, 11 April
1944. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: 2 May 1918, Chicago, Ill.
G.O. No.: 5, 15 January 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity
above and beyond the call of duty while serving as pilot of a B17 aircraft
on a heavy-bombardment mission to Germany, 11 April 1944. The group in
which 1st Lt. Michael was flying was attacked by a swarm of fighters. His
plane was singled out and the fighters pressed their attacks home recklessly,
completely disregarding the Allied fighter escort and their own intense
flak. His plane was riddled from nose to tail with exploding cannon shells
and knocked out of formation, with a large number of fighters following
it down, blasting it with cannon fire as it descended. A cannon shell exploded
in the cockpit, wounded the copilot, wrecked the instruments, and blew
out the side window. 1st Lt. Michael was seriously and painfully wounded
in the right thigh. Hydraulic fluid filmed over the windshield making visibility
impossible, and smoke filled the cockpit. The controls failed to respond
and 3,000 feet were lost before he succeeded in leveling off. The radio
operator informed him that the whole bomb bay was in flames as a result
of the explosion of 3 cannon shells, which had ignited the incendiaries.
With a full load of incendiaries in the bomb bay and a considerable gas
load in the tanks, the danger of fire enveloping the plane and the tanks
exploding seemed imminent. When the emergency release lever failed to function,
1st Lt. Michael at once gave the order to bail out and 7 of the crew left
the plane. Seeing the bombardier firing the navigator's gun at the enemy
planes, 1st Lt. Michael ordered him to bail out as the plane was liable
to explode any minute. When the bombardier looked for his parachute he
found that it had been riddled with 20mm. fragments and was useless. 1st
Lt. Michael, seeing the ruined parachute, realized that if the plane was
abandoned the bombardier would perish and decided that the only chance
would be a crash landing. Completely disregarding his own painful and profusely
bleeding wounds, but thinking only of the safety of the remaining crewmembers,
he gallantly evaded the enemy, using violent evasive action despite the
battered condition of his plane. After the plane had been under sustained
enemy attack for fully 45 minutes, 1st Lt. Michael finally lost the persistent
fighters in a cloud bank. Upon emerging, an accurate barrage of flak caused
him to come down to treetop level where flak towers poured a continuous
rain of fire on the plane. He continued into France, realizing that at
any moment a crash landing might have to be attempted, but trying to get
as far as possible to increase the escape possibilities if a safe landing
could be achieved. 1st Lt. Michael flew the plane until he became exhausted
from the loss of blood, which had formed on the floor in pools, and he
lost consciousness. The copilot succeeded in reaching England and sighted
an RAF field near the coast. 1st Lt. Michael finally regained consciousness
and insisted upon taking over the controls to land the plane. The undercarriage
was useless; the bomb bay doors were jammed open; the hydraulic system
and altimeter were shot out. In addition, there was no airspeed indicator,
the ball turret was jammed with the guns pointing downward, and the flaps
would not respond. Despite these apparently insurmountable obstacles, he
landed the plane without mishap.
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