The Air Force on Thursday planned to rectify a 65-year-old clerical error by presenting a Distinguished Flying Cross to former Army Air Forces first lieutenant Joseph Moser. The 87-year-old Moser was to receive his DFC during an awards ceremony at McChord AFB, Wash. Moser, who flew P-38s with the 474th Fighter Group, earned the DFC for a “highly successful bombing mission over a heavily fortified target on July 30, 1944,” states a Jan. 26 McChord release. Two weeks after that mission, Moser was shot down over Germany and held as a prisoner of war. The AAF misplaced the DFC paperwork and Moser never learned of the award until in the early 1990s when he read a squadron diary. (Read more in the McChord report and this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article.)
Airmen basic rarely go on to become four-star generals, but one who did retired last week after a 42 year career that saw him rise from a lowly slick-sleeve to the head of one of the Air Force’s most important major commands.