December 17, 201114 yr From Air Force Times [excerpt] Cold War U-2 pilot to be awarded Silver StarBy Douglas Birch - The Associated Press Posted : Friday Dec 16, 2011 17:36:18 EST WASHINGTON — The Air Force will award a Silver Star posthumously to Francis Gary Powers, the pilot whose spy plane was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union in a defining moment of the Cold War.
January 1, 201214 yr I could see giving him a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross), but not a SS. No direct combat was involved. Frankly, the propincity to award posthumous medals decades after the fact is getting a little out of hand. FWFS, Greg Emerson DM1(SW), USN-Retired
January 5, 201214 yr Author I could see giving him a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross), but not a SS. No direct combat was involved. Frankly, the propincity to award posthumous medals decades after the fact is getting a little out of hand. I appreciate what you're saying, and I'm also inclined to question the increased propensity (or at least a perception of same) to hand out medals. That said, I'm not sure being shot down over 'enemy' territory by a SAM and then held in prison for two years doesn't qualify as 'gallantry in action' or, for lack of a better term, 'combat'.
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