Aviation Archives - National Medal of Honor Museum

F4F Wildcat Aces and the Medal of Honor

During the opening chapters of World War II in the Pacific Theater, Navy and Marine Corps aviators were thrust into some of the most perilous and challenging air actions in American history. Flying the Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter, eight different American fighter aces would go on to earn the Medal of Honor – our nation’s highest decoration for military combat. No other fixed-wing, single-engined aircraft has more Medal of Honor actions associated with it than the Wildcat.

Joseph J. Foss, USMC

Date of Action: October 1942-January 1943 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 121 (VMF-121) Location: Over and Near Guadalcanal Island Joe Foss was a United States Marine Corps

James E. Swett, USMC

Date of Action: April 7, 1943 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) Location: Near Guadalcanal Island James “Zeke” Swett, was commissioned as a Marine Corps

Jefferson J. De Blanc, USMC

Date of Action: January 31, 1943 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 112 (VMF-112) Location: Near Kolombangara Island Commissioned in April of 1942, Jefferson De Blanc had

Harold W. Bauer, USMC

Date of Action: October 16, 1942 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 212 (VMF-212) Location: Near Guadalcanal Island Harold “Joe” Bauer graduated from the United States Naval

Edward H. O’Hare, USN

Date of Action: February 20, 1942 Squadron: Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3), USS Lexington (CV-2) Location: Near New Britain Island Edward O’Hare grew up in an

Robert E. Galer, USMC

Date of Action: September-October 1942 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 224 (VMF-224) Location: Near Guadalcanal Island He shouldn’t have even been at Guadalcanal. Robert “Bob” Galer

John L. Smith, USMC

Date of Action: August-October 1942 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 223 (VMF-223) Location: Guadalcanal Island John Smith from Lexington, Oklahoma wanted to be an accountant. In 1936

Henry T. Elrod, USMC

Date of Action: December 8-23, 1941 Squadron: Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211) Location: Wake Island Raised outside of Thomasville, Georgia, Henry Talmadge Elrod grew up