Named WW2 Distinguished Flying Cross – Horst

Riveting WW2 Distinguished Flying Cross (Louis C. Horst). WW2 period privately hand engraved with name “T/SGT./LOUIS C. HORST/A. C.“. Distinguished Flying Cross is slot brooch. Includes case.

*Artifact(s) come(s) with a packet of printed research paperwork related to Louis C. Horst – including (where available) subject’s general vital statistics/subject’s military records/additional insights into subject’s military service. [Please note that this research was performed exclusively by/for Magi Militaria utilizing subscription-based archives, database resources, and other various internet searchable sources – included research may contain records from U.S. government archives, but the information furnished in this packet was not produced via NARA/NPRC information request.]

According to our research, Technical Sergeant Louis Clarence Horst (ASN: 12135278), a native of Pennsylvania/New Jersey, served as a B-24 Radar Operator/Radioman/Gunner with the 308th Bombardment Group, 14th Air Force during WW2. A veteran of over 30 missions in the China-Burma-India theater, Horst was nearly killed during a mission on November 16, 1945 – when he was severely injured by a 22mm shell fired from a Japanese gunboat. During a bombing run made by the B-24 Liberator on which Horst was flying, the shell managed to enter and explode in the open bomb bay – shattering the left side of Horst’s face (including his left eye). Unbelievably, Horst was the only member of the crew injured during this mission and he somehow not only managed to survive the initial injury, but also weathered the nearly 6-hour return flight to the airfield in China where his plane was based before receiving proper medical care!