The National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol

The First WWII Air Medal Presented
by the President

A CAP rescue of one of its downed flyers earned the first Air Medals of WWII presented personally by the President.

Base 2 commander Hugh Sharp and CAP flier Eddie Edwards landed the Base 2 amphibian to save one of a two-man crew. In rough seas, the landing cost one of the amphib’s pontoons, requiring an all-night water taxi back towards shore. To counter-balance the lost pontoon, Edwards crawled out on the opposite wing strut and clung there for hours.

The modest Edwards, at the late 1990s dedication of the same rescue amphibian, restored and on display at the New England Air Museum, quipped he just got out there to get away from the screaming injured aviator. Histories at the time said his frozen hands had to be plied from the strut when a rescue boat met the damaged amphibian near shore.

CAP takes pride that the first to receive air medals personally from the President in WWII were not Army fliers, not Navy fliers, but CAP pilots.

Armed!

Early in the war, CAP planes could only dive on subs. Their calls to summon military bombers were often in vein. Relations between CAP Coastal Patrol and the military were often cool. Military flyers looked down on the rag tag air patrol.

Then, in Florida, a Nazi sub foundered for 45 minutes on a sand bar near Jupiter Inlet while helpless CAP planes circled overhead. The sub got away, and a frustrated AAF General Hap Arnold issued the order to arm CAP.

Low-horsepower single-engine aircraft carried a 100-pound bomb, while larger aircraft carried a 325-pound depth charge. While USAAF supplied bomb shackles and training, CAP pilots devised their own homemade bombsights.

CAP flew 24 million over-water miles, spotted 173 subs, attacked 57, damaged 17 and sank one, possibly two. CAP also located the survivors of 363 ships, reported 91 vessels in distress and found 17 floating mines.