Lieutenant Colonel DAVID C. HALE, has the unusual distinction of possessing the Navy Cross although holding the status of a retired Air Force officer. This is explained by Lt. Colonel Hale’s World War I service in U.S. Naval Aviation and his World War II service with the U. S. Army Air Forces. His Navy Cross was granted for distinguished and heroic services as a gunner and observer of airplanes of the Northern Bombing Group in France, co-operating with the Allied Armies on the Belgium Front from June to November 1918, in bombing raids over enemy territory and in action against enemy aircraft.

LTC. Hale joined the Legion of Valor in 1961 and resided in Florida.