Erwin R . Bleckley Erwin Russell Bleckley ( December 30 , 1894 – October 6 , 1918 ) was a United States Army Air Service aviator during World War I , and posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor , killed in action on October 6 , 1918 . Bleckley entered service as a member of the Kansas National Guard , was commissioned as an artillery officer , then volunteered for aviation training and duty . His was one of four Medals of Honor awarded to members of the Air Service . Background . Enlistment and Air Service duty . On June 6 , 1917 , Bleckley , then a bank teller with the 4th National Bank of Wichita , enlisted as a private in the Kansas National Guard , joining Battery F , 1st Field Artillery , the second man to enlist , according to the unit commander . On July 5 , 1917 , he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery . A month later , on August 5 , his unit was called into Federal service . The 1st FA was then reorganized into the 130th Field Artillery at Fort Sill , Oklahoma , as part of the 35th Infantry Division . Bleckley had expressed a desire to become a pilot , but his family objected and he became an artilleryman . When he arrived in France in March 1918 , the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force , then organizing , announced a need for artillery officers to train as aerial observers . Bleckley volunteered , graduated from the observer school at Tours , France , and was attached to the 50th Aero Squadron on August 14 , 1918 . At that time the 50th , known as the " Dutch Girl " squadron from the commercial logo of a scouring cleanser painted on the sides of their airplanes , was based at Amanty aerodrome and had 14 pilots , nine observers including Bleckley , and 18 de Havilland DH - 4 aircraft , which the crews called " Libertys " after their American - made Liberty engine s . On September 2 , 1918 , in preparation for the St . Mihiel Offensive , the squadron moved to Behonne aerodrome , near Bar - le - Duc to support the V Corps of the First U . S . Army . However a few days later they were shifted to Bicqueley aerodrome , to provide support to the 82nd and 90th Divisions of the I Corps . While arriving at their new base , the squadron lost a pilot and mechanic killed in a landing accident . Bleckley , known as " Bleck " and popular in his squadron , flew his first combat mission at 5 : 30 a . m . Of September 12 , 1918 , the first day of the offensive , which was the first coordinated , large - scale employment of Air Service airpower . Flying observer for flight leader 1st Lt . Harold E . " Dad " Goettler in aircraft number 2 , the mission supported the advance of the 90th Division , and was the first of several that resulted in a recommendation for promotion to 1st lieutenant for Bleckley on September 17 . The Lost Battalion . On September 24 , the squadron again relocated , this time to Remicourt , aerodrome of the I Corps Observation Group . On September 26 , 1918 , supporting the 77th Division , the 50th Aero Squadron flew its first missions of the Meuse - Argonne Offensive with a complement of 15 pilots , 15 observers , and 16 Liberties . At the beginning of October , units of the 308th Infantry Regiment were cut off and surrounded by German troops . Able to communicate with division headquarters only by carrier pigeon , the battalion - sized force inadvertently supplied division headquarters with incorrect coordinates of its location . As early as October 2 the 50th Aero Squadron searched for signs of the cut - off battalion , and on October 5 , the division commander , Maj . Gen . Robert Alexander , requested that the 50th Aero Squadron locate and resupply the " Lost Battalion " by air with ammunition , rations , and medical supplies . Four attempts to pinpoint the location were unsuccessful in increasingly bad weather . On October 6 , the 50th flew 13 additional missions , ultimately having three aircraft shot down , in what the USAF has termed the first combat airlift in history . In addition to supplies , the 50th attempted to drop two baskets of carrier pigeons to the 308th , using small parachutes from flare s to soften the descent . The first resupply mission , flown by Lt . s Floyd M . Pickrell and Alfred C . George , took off shortly before noon in poor visibility . The DH - 4 of Lt . s Maurice F . Graham and James E . McCurdy returned from the last mission with McCurdy seriously wounded by a bullet through the neck , but also with confirmation that the location given by the lost battalion was incorrect and occupied by German forces . Medal of Honor mission . On the early afternoon of October 6 , 1918 , flying again with Goettler , Bleckley took off to try to locate the " Lost Battalion " . After completion of their first mission , they returned to Remicourt with numerous holes in the aircraft from small arms fire , and problems with their spark plugs that had been plaguing the DH - 4s for several days . Warned by squadron commander Capt . Daniel P . Morse that a second sortie would be exceedingly more difficult and hazardous , Bleckley was quoted : " We ' ll make the delivery or die in the attempt ! " Late in the afternoon , the pair flew a second resupply mission in aircraft number 6 , borrowed from Lt . Pickrell when their own was not serviceable . A history of Wichita , " Bear Grease , Builders , and Bandits " by Beccy Tanner ( 1991 ) , gives eyewitness descriptions of what followed : " Goettler skidded his plane , he made turns , he side - slipped a little occasionally , he climbed and then dived . Each time the plane turned and its great mottled belly flopped back into normal position , the men of the lost battalion expected to see it tumble from the sky . . . But on its way it went like a charmed thing , roaring up and down and across , rocked occasionally by the ash of big shells that had just passed . . . the plane finally crashed into the French terrain . " The DH - 4 flew low , just above the tree tops , cresting hilltops and descending into a ravine in which the Germans could shoot down at the aircraft . The attempt to draw fire to pinpoint German positions would help find the battalion by the process of elimination . By flying low the attempts to drop supplies into an area 350 by 50 yards where the battalion was believed to be dug in would be more precise . Even so , much of the resupply was recovered by German troops , and the aircraft came under intense and accurate fire from German machinegun s and rifles . Goettler was struck in the head by a bullet and killed . The DH - 4 crashed inside Allied lines , and Bleckley was thrown from the plane and severely injured . Unconscious , he was rescued by French soldiers , and rushed by automobile to a hospital , but died en route of internal injuries suffered in the crash . Morse successfully recommended both men for the Distinguished Service Cross , two of the six received by aviators of the squadron . The awards were upgraded to the Medal of Honor by the Decoration Board in 1922 . The medal was presented to Bleckley ' s parents at the Wichita Forum on March 23 , 1923 . Maj . Gen . C . B . Duncan , commander of the 7th Corps Area , pinned the medal on the lapel of Bleckley ' s father , Col . Elmer E . Bleckley , a former railroad agent with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Vice President of the 4th National Bank . The Kansas National Guard was presented with a painting of the DH - 4 and Bleckley moments after the crash , which depicts him as conscious but near death , handing a bloody paper containing the location of the Lost Battalion to French soldiers . However the version appears to be part of the Lost Battalion mythology with no evidence to date to support it . Bleckley was also commemorated by the city of Wichita in 1932 with the naming of Bleckley Drive , at the request of the American Legion . Following the war , his remains were permanently buried in the Meuse - Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial east of the village of Romagne - sous - Montfaucon , France . Bleckley ' s family donated his Medal of Honor to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton , Ohio . The original copy of the award document is located in the Museum of the Kansas National Guard in Topeka , KS along with other personal momentoes and personal items belonging to Lt . Bleckley . A monument commemorating Bleckley and Goettler ' s final flight was erected on October 7 , 2009 , in Remicourt , ninety - one years and one day after they were killed . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Second Lieutenant , 130th Field Artillery , observer 50th Aero Squadron , Air Service . Place and date . Near Binarville , France , October 6 , 1918 . Entered service at : Wichita , Kans . Birth : Wichita , Kans . G . O . No . : 56 , W . D . , 1922 . Citation : 2d Lt . Bleckley , with his pilot , 1st Lt . Harold E . Goettler , Air Service , left the airdrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division , which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest . Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy , they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot . In the course of his mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from the ground , resulting in fatal wounds to 2d Lt . Bleckley , who died before he could be taken to a hospital . In attempting and performing this mission 2d Lt . Bleckley showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger , devotion to duty , courage , and valor .