Richard Ira Bong (September 24, 1920 â August 6, 1945) was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country’s top flying ace in the war, credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft, all with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, presents Major Richard I. Bong with the Medal of Honor he was awarded “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944” at Tacloban Field, Leyte. He died in California while testing a Lockheed P-80 jet fighter shortly before the war ended. rochestermilitary.com
