Largest Distinguished Flying Cross Ceremony ‘in Decades’ Honors More Than 50 Airmen
Nov. 23, 2022 | By Greg Hadley
Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan awarded 51 Distinguished Flying Cross awards at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 21—one of the largest DFC ceremonies in recent history.
All of the awards were given to Airmen who participated in Operation Allies Refuge, the noncombatant evacuation out of Kabul, Afghanistan, in the summer of 2021, as the Taliban seized control of the country and tens of thousands of civilians were airlifted to safety.
Among those honored were Airmen who rescued hundreds amid chaos as civilians breached the airfield at Hamid Karzai International Airport, aircrew from the very final flights out of Kabul on Aug. 30, 2021, and service members who helped deliver a baby aboard a C-17. The awardees also included the very first Black women to ever be given the Distinguished Flying Cross, the nation’s fourth-highest award for valor.
A press release from the 628th Air Base Wing deemed the ceremony “the largest of its kind in decades.” The Distinguished Flying Cross was first established in 1926.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/largest-distinguished-flying-cross-ceremony-in-decades/