Robert Giles, who, as a B-17 navigator, saved a crewmate’s life in the skies over Berlin, Germany, on April 18, 1944, has received the Distinguished Flying Cross, another form of long-overdue recognition for his heroism that day nearly 67 years ago. Last April, Giles received the Air Medal for those same actions. Then a second lieutenant, Giles managed that day to help the B-17’s severely wounded bombardier safely escape the doomed aircraft after German fighters had ripped it up. Giles himself had sustained a broken arm. Upon reaching the ground, the Germans captured both airmen; they remained POWs until May 1945. “I never thought that I did anything that any person wouldn’t have done under the same circumstances,” said Giles, who received the DFC during a Dec. 29 ceremony at Kirtland AFB, N.M. (Kirtland report by John Cochran)
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held meetings with defense leaders from the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea during a trip to the Indo-Pacific this week.