Lieutenant Colonel William M. Gay, U.S. Air Force, was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross in recognition of his extraordinary heroism in action near Wewak, New Guinea, on 17 August 1943. Then a captain, he was pilot of one of a formation of medium bombers, which, with fighter escort, had a mission to destroy a concentration of enemy aircraft at Dagua Airdone. Before the objective was reached, all bombers of the formation except Captain Gay’s and two others were forced to turn back because of mechanical difficulty. The fighters then departed to escort another formation. Electing to continue despite reduced number and lack of protection, Captain Gay joined the other two bombers and proceeded to target. In the face of intense antiaircraft and machine gun fire, he made a devastating bombing and strafing attack from minimum altitude, contributing to the destruction of seventeen grounded enemy planes and the damaging of twenty more. Ten to fifteen enemy fighters then intercepted this flight of three, which in a running fight of thiry-seven minutes, shot down two and damaged three of the hostile planes. In voluntarily persisting in this attack despite dangerous odds, Captain Gay showed high courage and made a substantial contribution to the success of the mission.

LTC. Gay joined the Legion of Valor in 1974.