Frank Luke Frank Luke Jr . ( May 19 , 1897 – September 29 , 1918 ) was an American fighter ace , ranking second among U . S . Army Air Service pilots after Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in number of aerial victories during World War I ( Rickenbacker was credited with 26 victories , while Luke ' s official score was 18 ) . Frank Luke was the first airman to receive the Medal of Honor . Luke Air Force Base , Arizona , a U . S . Air Force pilot training installation since World War II , is named in his honor . Biography . Luke was born May 19 , 1897 in Phoenix , Arizona after his family emigrated from Germany to America in 1873 and settled in Arizona . Frank was his family ' s fifth child , and he grew up excelling in sports , working in copper mines , and participating in bare - knuckle boxing matches . Following America ' s entry into World War I in April 1917 , Frank enlisted in the Aviation Section , U . S . Signal Corps on September 25 , 1917 , and received pilot training in Texas and California . After being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in March 1918 , he deployed to France for further training , and in July was assigned to the 27th Aero Squadron . Although Luke was still a second lieutenant at the time of his death , Stephen Skinner ' s book " The Stand " notes that he later received a posthumous promotion to first lieutenant . Because of his arrogance and his occasional tendencies to fly alone and to disobey orders , Luke was disliked by some of his peers and superiors . But the 27th was under standing orders to destroy German observation balloons . Because of this , Luke , along with his close friend Lt . Joseph Frank Wehner , continually volunteered to attack these important targets despite the fact that they were heavily defended by anti - aircraft guns on the ground . The two pilots began a remarkable string of victories together , with Luke attacking the balloons and Wehner flying protective cover . Wehner was killed in action on September 18 , 1918 , in a dogfight with Fokker D . VII s which were attacking Luke . Luke then shot down two of these D . VIIs and two balloons , thereby achieving his 13th official kill - a Halberstadt C type observation plane of ' Flieger Abteilung ' 36 . Between September 12 and September 29 , Luke was credited with shooting down 14 German balloons and four airplanes : These 18 victories , which Luke earned during just ten sorties in eight days , was a feat unsurpassed by any pilot in World War I . Death - September 29 , 1918 . Luke ' s final flight took place during the first phase of the Meuse - Argonne Offensive . On September 28 , after achieving his 14th and 15th victories , he landed his SPAD XIII at the French aerodrome at Cicognes where he spent the night , claiming engine trouble . When he returned to the 1st Pursuit Group ' s base at Rembercourt the next day , he was confronted by Lt . Grant , his squadron ' s commanding officer ( C . O . ) . Despite being under threat of arrest by Grant for being AWOL , Luke took off without authorization and flew to a forward airbase at Verdun , where his sympathetic Group commander , Major Hartney , cancelled the arrest order and gave Luke tacit approval to continue his balloon hunting . That evening Luke flew to the front to attack three balloons in the vicinity of Dun - sur - Meuse , six miles behind the German lines . He first dropped a message to a nearby U . S . balloon company , alerting them to observe his imminent attacks . Luke shot down the enemy balloons , but was then severely wounded by a single machinegun bullet fired from a hilltop above him , a mile east of the last balloon site he had attacked . Luke landed in a field just west of the small village of Murvaux - after strafing a group of German soldiers on the ground - near the Ruisseau de Bradon , a stream leading to the Meuse River . Although weakened by his wound , he made his way toward the stream , intending to reach the cover of its adjacent underbrush , but finally collapsed some 200 meters from his airplane . Approached by German infantry , Luke drew his Colt Model 1911 pistol and fired a few rounds at his attackers before dying . Reports that a day later his body was found with an empty gun and a bullet hole in his chest , with seven dead Germans in front of him were proven erroneous . According to author Skinner , the fatal bullet , fired from the hilltop machine gun position , had entered near Luke ' s right shoulder , passed through his body , and exited from his left side . On September 30 the Germans buried Luke in the Murvaux cemetery , from where his body was retrieved two months later by American forces . His final resting place is the Meuse - Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial , located east of the village of Romagne - sous - Montfaucon . After the US Army obtained sworn testimony from French and American sources , Luke was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor . The presentation was made to Frank Luke , Sr . , in Phoenix in May 1919 . The family later donated the medal to the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton , Ohio . The Museum ' s small exhibit honoring Lt Frank Luke also contains his flying goggles , the gunsight from his last SPAD , documents written by Luke , and other personal items . The Museum ' s Early Years Gallery displays a fully restored SPAD XIII of the type flown by Luke . Eddie Rickenbacker said of Luke : " He was the most daring aviator and greatest fighter pilot of the entire war . His life is one of the brightest glories of our Air Service . He went on a rampage and shot down fourteen enemy aircraft , including ten balloons , in eight days . No other ace , even the dreaded Richthofen , had ever come close to that . " Other Aces . Luke is often cited as the second - ranking American ace of World War I , but that statement ignores certain American pilots who flew with other Allied air services . Luke was , however , second only to Rickenbacker among pilots serving only with the AEF . ( It is noteworthy that Luke ' s time on the front was comparatively quite short , and 17 of Luke ' s 18 victories were officially recorded as destroyed , versus only 11 of Rickenbacker ' s 26 ) . Americans flying with Britain ' s Royal Flying Corps ( Royal Air Force from April 1918 ) who exceeded Luke ' s score were Frederick W . Gillet ( 20 claims , all destroyed ) ; Harold A . Kullberg , DFC , Lt . 1 Sqn RFC ( 19 confirmed ) and Wilfred Beaver ( 19 claims , 12 destroyed . ) Tied with Luke at 18 was William C . Lambert ( 18 claims ) . Honors and awards . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and Organization : Second Lieutenant , 27th Aero Squadron , 1st Pursuit Group . Place and Date : Near Murvaux , France , September 29 , 1918 . Entered Service At : Phoenix , Ariz . Born : May 19 , 1897 , Phoenix , Ariz . G . O . No . : 59 , W . D . , 1919 . Citation : After having previously destroyed a number of enemy aircraft within 17 days he voluntarily started on a patrol after German observation balloons . Though pursued by 8 German planes which were protecting the enemy balloon line , he unhesitatingly attacked and shot down in flames 3 German balloons , being himself under heavy fire from ground batteries and the hostile planes . Severely wounded , he descended to within 50 meters of the ground , and flying at this low altitude near the town of Murvaux opened fire upon enemy troops , killing 6 and wounding as many more . Forced to make a landing and surrounded on all sides by the enemy , who called upon him to surrender , he drew his automatic pistol and defended himself gallantly until he fell dead from a wound in the chest . The citation contained errors attributable to confused accounts from French witnesses to Luke ' s final flight , and to a staff officer ' s re - write of the original write - up , which emphasized the numerous high - risk missions he flew between September 12 and 29 . Reports that he was intercepted by German fighters , strafed enemy troops before his forced landing ; and was " surrounded on all sides " were literal mis - interpretations of French testimony and became part of the mythology that grew up around the event . First Distinguished Service Cross . Citation : The President of the United States of America , authorized by Act of Congress , July 9 , 1918 , takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross ( Posthumously ) to Second Lieutenant ( Air Service ) Frank Luke , Jr . , United States Army Air Service , for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 27th Aero Squadron , 1st Pursuit Group , U . S . Army Air Service , A . E . F . , near St . Mihiel , France , September 12 to 15 , 1918 . Lieutenant Luke , by skill , determination , and bravery , and in the face of heavy enemy fire , successfully destroyed eight enemy observation balloons in four days . Second Distinguished Service Cross . Citation : The President of the United States of America , authorized by Act of Congress , July 9 , 1918 , takes pride in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Distinguished Service Cross ( Posthumously ) to Second Lieutenant ( Air Service ) Frank Luke , Jr . , United States Army Air Service , for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 27th Aero Squadron , 1st Pursuit Group , U . S . Army Air Service , A . E . F . , near Etain , France , 18 September 1918 . Immediately after destroying two enemy observation balloons , Lieutenant Luke was attacked by a large formation of German planes , Fokker type . He turned to attack two , which were directly behind him , and shot them down . Sighting an enemy biplane , although his gasoline was nearly gone , he attacked and destroyed this machine also .