Page 3 - DFCS News Magazine Spring 2014

The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Colonel Bernard M. Willi for heroism while participating in aerial flight as Deputy Commander, 438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, Combined Air Power Transition Force/438th Air Expeditionary Wing, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan and Com-
bined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, from 28 July 2010 to 29 July 2010 near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Over these two days while piloting a Mi-17 aircraft, Colonel Willi and an Afghan crew and interpreter, performed hazardous rescues under constant enemy threat during severe flooding in Nangahar and Kunar provinces. With less than an hour’s notification, Colonel Willi took com- mand of a Mi-17 and started emergency rescue operations. While working in mountainous terrain with low ceilings and visibility less than one mile, Colonel Willi began moving people stranded by the flood to safety. After refueling, the crew was summoned to pick up more stranded people in Jalalabad city. By the end of the day, Colonel
Willi had saved 175 people. After staying overnight at Jalalabad Airport, the
crew was summoned to Kunar province for more rescues. During one
rescue, Colonel Willi had to wrest the controls from his Afghan co-pilot and
establish a hover within five feet of suspension bridge wires to get nine men
off the buttress of a collapsed bridge. On another rescue, Colonel Willi man-
aged to take 64 people to safety in a single aircraft load. All through the day,
the refugees reported Taliban activity within 100 meters of the rescue. By
the end of the second day, Colonel Willi and his crew had saved 813 people,
giving him a two-day total of 988 rescues. The outstanding heroism and
selfless devotion to duty displayed by Colonel Willi reflect great credit upon
himself and the United States Air Force.
DFCS, PO Box 502408, San Diego, CA 92150
DFCS, PO Box 502408, San Diego, CA 92150