Evening star., 1945-02-25

editor of The Star.
Another marine, Sergt. Harold j.
Heidig, now on duty at the Alex
andria Naval Torpedo Station, was
commended for heroism while serv-
Ing with an assault rife company
on Saipan in July last year. A ma
chine-gun platoon leader, he took
a patrol to a coral reef to bring
back the bodies of three marines
killed there. Moving down a mar
row path, he was fired on by the
enemy entrenched in the coral.
Immediately realizing the dan
ger to the rest of his patrol" the
citation said, ''he moved to an ex-
posed position where he could fire
on the enemy. He accounted for
several while the patrol moved to a
covered position and succeeded in
wiping out the others"
1t. Col. Roy L. Reeve, Liberator
group operations officer, has been
awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster to
the Distinguished Flying Cross for
safely bringing back three wounded
men and his badly damaged bomber
after mission to Austria.
Col. Reeve, %, whose home is at
tbs Twenty-second street, Arlington,
was just dropping his bombs when
fax exploded outside the Liberator' s
nose, wounding the navigator and
bombardier and piercing the instru-
ment board to wound the co-pilot.
Col. Reeve, aware the hydraulic
brake power was out of order, landed
the plane on a friendly field.
Four men have received the Dis
tinguished Flying Cross. They in
clude:
Comdr. Harry W. Sears, SO, q. s.
N, 70o2 Rolling road, Chevy Chase,
Md.
1t. Comdr. Charles r. Stapler, 28,
U. S. N, 2o2o Hillyer place NV
First 1t. Paul A. Plott, fighter
bomber pilot, 2414 Thirty-ninth
place NV, in Italy.
First 1t. James E. Hoffman, PAT
pilot, 1416 Ridge place Sc, in Italy.
Comdr. Sears, as place commander
Of patrol bomber squadron against
the Japs in the Solomons organ
lied and lead an eight-plane strike
against a hostile force on August
26, 1943 He daringly attacked the
leader of the destroyers, scoring a
direct hit. shot down an enemy twin
engined plane and bombed, strafed
and sank hostile vessel" the cita-
tion said.
Another time he personally at
tackled a japanese submarine, scored
several near misses with depth
bombs. On special patrol he re-
ported an enemy convoy, then
strafed and bombed It from mast
head height, damaging two of the
enemy vessels.
Comdr. Stapler, as pilot Of Navy
torpedo bomber during an engage
ment with an enemy submarine In
the Atlantic Ocean, Unanswered
the plane for maximum striking
power and, Immediately after his
supporting fighter had delivered a
bold strafing run, pressed home a
determined depth bomb attack de-
spite a rain of intense antiaircraft
fire." He had been dispatched to
complete the destruction of the sur
faced hostile vessel previously SUBJ
jected to attack by another aircraft.
1t. Plott, on an armed recon-
naissance mission over enemy COM
munication lines in Northern Italy,
maneuvered through heavy overcast
upon approach of his target, and
sighted a concentration of enemy
rolling stock near Milan. He dived
through enemy fire, released his
bombs, which destroyed q loco
motive. a tender and two box cars.
He also strafed and silenced several
gun positions, destroyed another
locomotive and damaged IL freight
cars on the same mission.
1t. Hoffman was decorated for
guiding his PATS on a perfect bomb
run, enabling them to score direct
hits on the Brenner Pass rail line
in Northern Italy.
First 1t. Anthony Di Blasi, util-
tiles officer at the 9th Bombardment
Division headquarters in France
1916 Van Buren street NV, was
decorated with