Carl Genian Carl Genian ( September 21 , 1921 – May 25 , 1967 ) was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . During the war , Genian spent eleven months overseas and flew 66 combat missions pursuing numerous bombing targets that spanned eight countries from France to the Balkans . He and his unit received many commendations for close support , pinpoint bombing operations and heroism . Genian ' s medals include the Distinguished Flying Cross , Soldiers Medal and an Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters . Life . Of Armenian descent , Genian was born in Yettem , California and was the oldest of four children . His father , Arshag Genian , was born in Tomarza , Ottoman Empire and moved to the United States and became a rancher in Dinuba , California . His mother , Eliza ( Mendikian ) Genian , was born in Kayseri , Ottoman Empire . Carl Genian had two sisters , Charlotte and Stella , and the youngest of the four children was his brother Sam . Genian attended Dinuba High School , where he participated in basketball and played sousaphone and tuba in the band . After school , when time permitted , Genian joined the family to work on the farm . After graduation , he enlisted as an aviation cadet . He subsequently attended the Army Air Force school for radio operations and mechanics at Scott Field , Illinois , and the school for bombardiers in San Angelo , Texas . After his discharge from the Air Force in July 1945 , he attended UC Berkeley and majored in civil engineering . He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1950 . In 1946 , before completing his studies , he went to work for Gordon Ball Construction Company in Danville , California . He became an estimator for building bridges and highways until his death on May 25 , 1967 . Genian was married to Lucy Jandegian , born in South Milwaukee , Wisconsin . They had two children : Bill born in 1950 , and Christopher , born in 1962 . World War II . Genian received his commission as a second lieutenant in December 1943 and was posted overseas in April 1944 . He was assigned as an aerial bombardier in the 340th Bombardment Group ( M ) , a B - 25 Mitchell medium bomber group , in the Twelfth Air Force in the Mediterranean theater . Genian ' s unit attacked German beachhead defenses while Allied assault troops opened the front in southern France , and then moved northward to destroy German communications . His unit then helped to push German forces out of Tunisia , Sicily and central Italy . The 340th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation as a distinguished unit , both for outstanding support of the British Eighth Army and the United States Seventh Army in Sicily and for compiling a record of 100 percent target hits in a full month of operation . Genian was awarded one of his six oak leaf clusters early in the spring of 1944 . In June 1944 , Genian ' s unit helped break the stalemate on the Adolf Hitler Line below Rome . Their attacks on viaducts and on rail and road bridges were part of the " bridge - busting " missions that cut off German supply lines and enabled Allied ground forces to push the Germans back above Rome . He was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious service on June 22 , 1944 . A month later , Genian was awarded the Soldier ' s Medal for heroism when , after discovering that three 100 - pound bombs had failed to release , he lowered himself into his plane ' s bomb bay and , while being held in a precarious position , loosened and jettisoned the bombs . That same month , during one of Genian ' s bombing runs over Germany , his plane was hit by German ground fire . Genian ' s plane had one of its two engines knocked out and was forced to make an emergency landing at an airstrip under Russian control . Russian soldiers rushed out , picked up the American airmen and took them to an Army camp . Genian was put in a cabin until the Russians contacted the U . S . Air Force Headquarters to notify them of the crew ' s internment . During his internment , Genian had the opportunity to meet with Soviet Armenian General Marshal Baghramyan . At that time , Baghramyan had become the commander of the 1st Baltic Front ( later known as the Samland group ) . After the war , he was appointed Commander of the Baltic Military District . After Baghramyan and Genian had a conversation in Armenian , the general ordered his aide to inform the camp commander that every camp courtesy be given to the American airmen . On October 12 , 1944 , Genian guided his pilot to the successful completion of a mission over Bologna , Italy , despite the fact that the plane was heavily damaged from German anti - aircraft fire . For these actions , he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . Military decorations . Genian ' s military decorations include :