Edward S . Michael Edward Stanley Michael ( May 2 , 1918 – May 10 , 1994 ) was a United States Army Air Forces officer and a recipient of the United States military ' s highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in World War II . Michael joined the Army Air Corps from his birth city of Chicago , Illinois in November 1940 and by April 11 , 1944 was a first lieutenant piloting B - 17 Flying Fortress es with the 364th Bomb Squadron , 305th Bombardment Group . On that day , while flying a mission over Germany , his aircraft was singled out by enemy fighters and severely damaged by their cannon fire . As flames burned in the plane ' s bomb bay , Michael , who had been seriously wounded , ordered his crew to bail out . Finding that one crewman ' s parachute was unusable , he returned to the controls and managed to evade the enemy fighters and heavy anti - aircraft fire to fly his bomber into Allied territory . He lost consciousness due to blood loss from his wounds , but awoke in time to make a successful crash landing on English soil . For his actions , he was awarded the Medal of Honor nine months later , on January 15 , 1945 . Michael was transferred to the Air Force after the war , and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1971 . Michael joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints in 1978 . He died at age 76 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Springville , Utah . Michael ' s official Medal of Honor citation reads : For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as pilot of a B17 aircraft on a heavy - bombardment mission to Germany , April 11 , 1944 . The group in which 1st Lt . Michael was flying was attacked by a swarm of fighters . His plane was singled out and the fighters pressed their attacks home recklessly , completely disregarding the Allied fighter escort and their own intense flak . His plane was riddled from nose to tail with exploding cannon shells and knocked out of formation , with a large number of fighters following it down , blasting it with cannon fire as it descended . A cannon shell exploded in the cockpit , wounded the copilot , wrecked the instruments , and blew out the side window . 1st Lt . Michael was seriously and painfully wounded in the right thigh . Hydraulic fluid filmed over the windshield making visibility impossible , and smoke filled the cockpit . The controls failed to respond and 3 , 000 feet were lost before he succeeded in leveling off . The radio operator informed him that the whole bomb bay was in flames as a result of the explosion of 3 cannon shells , which had ignited the incendiaries . With a full load of incendiaries in the bomb bay and a considerable gas load in the tanks , the danger of fire enveloping the plane and the tanks exploding seemed imminent . When the emergency release lever failed to function , 1st Lt . Michael at once gave the order to bail out and 7 of the crew left the plane . Seeing the bombardier firing the navigator ' s gun at the enemy planes , 1st Lt . Michael ordered him to bail out as the plane was liable to explode any minute . When the bombardier looked for his parachute he found that it had been riddled with 20mm . fragments and was useless . 1st Lt . Michael , seeing the ruined parachute , realized that if the plane was abandoned the bombardier would perish and decided that the only chance would be a crash landing . Completely disregarding his own painful and profusely bleeding wounds , but thinking only of the safety of the remaining crewmembers , he gallantly evaded the enemy , using violent evasive action despite the battered condition of his plane . After the plane had been under sustained enemy attack for fully 45 minutes , 1st Lt . Michael finally lost the persistent fighters in a cloud bank . Upon emerging , an accurate barrage of flak caused him to come down to treetop level where flak towers poured a continuous rain of fire on the plane . He continued into France , realizing that at any moment a crash landing might have to be attempted , but trying to get as far as possible to increase the escape possibilities if a safe landing could be achieved . 1st Lt . Michael flew the plane until he became exhausted from the loss of blood , which had formed on the floor in pools , and he lost consciousness . The copilot succeeded in reaching England and sighted an RAF field near the coast . 1st Lt . Michael finally regained consciousness and insisted upon taking over the controls to land the plane . The undercarriage was useless ; the bomb bay doors were jammed open ; the hydraulic system and altimeter were shot out . In addition , there was no airspeed indicator , the ball turret was jammed with the guns pointing downward , and the flaps would not respond . Despite these apparently insurmountable obstacles , he landed the plane without mishap .