FGP to receive Silver Star

[Spoo]

Air Force to award Silver Star to Francis Gary Powers, spy plane pilot shot down over USSR

By Associated Press, Published: December 17

WASHINGTON — The Air Force will award a Silver Star posthumously to Francis Gary Powers, the pilot whose spy plane was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union in a defining moment of the Cold War.

The Air Force determined that the U-2 pilot showed “steadfast loyalty” while under harsh interrogation in Soviet prisons. In a report obtained by The Associated Press, it cited his “sustained courage” and gallantry despite “cajolery, trickery, insults and threats of death.”

Powers was swapped for a Soviet spy in February 1962 at Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge. He died in the 1977 crash of a traffic helicopter he was flying in Los Angeles.

His son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., of Midlothian, Va., requested that his father be considered for the medal. He said the Air Force confirmed this week that it plans to award it. “It is vindication of my father 50 years afterwards,” he said. “Dad is one of our American heroes.”

In the aftermath of the downing, some people criticized Powers for not committing suicide using a toxin-tipped needle he was given before the flight. His son said the CIA instructed pilots to surrender and to use of the poisoned pin only if they chose to while under torture.

Pilots were permitted to tell the truth about their missions with the exception of certain specifications of their aircraft.

“While he admitted he was spying, he did not reveal any vital information to the enemy,” said Powers Jr., founder of the Cold War Museum in Vint Hill, Va.

The decision to award the Silver Star comes just a few weeks before the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on Dec. 25, 1991.

Powers wasn’t honored after his return in 1962 because of the “global political environment,” the Air Force report said.

The U-2 case was detailed in declassified data presented at a 1998 conference, and Powers was awarded a military POW medal and a CIA director’s medal posthumously in 2000. The U-2 Soviet overflights were a joint CIA-Air Force program.

Powers Jr. said he requested his father be considered for the higher military honor a few years ago, citing honors given other captured spy plane pilots. He said no date has been set for the award ceremony.

Edited December 18, 2011 by Spoo

[Toro]

Good for him, it's about time. I heard the First Shirt kept kicking it back.

[Learjetter]

I agree, about time. Good on 'em

But, "cajolery?"....Really?

[brickhistory]

Here's hoping it won't take 50 years for the RQ-170 in Iran to be so recognized...

it's a joke people...

[sky_king]

I just hope the RQ-170 remembers its SERE training.

[Guest Hueypilot812]

I was reading some of the related stories and seems he got the cold shoulder when he returned from the USSR...something about people feeling he shoulda taken the cyanide capsule, etc. I heard people saying the same thing about the EP-3 incident with China a few years back...people saying "they should have ditched the airplane and crashed it into the ocean". Noted...those kinds of comments were coming from people who weren't in the service, and weren't ever going to be in that situation.

Good for him for being recognized.

[M2]

Good to hear, he deserves it!

Just to note, according to Wikipedia:

In 2000, on the 40th anniversary of the U-2 Incident, his family was presented his posthumously awarded Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, and National Defense Service Medal. In addition, CIA Director George Tenet authorized Powers to posthumously receive the CIA's coveted Director's Medal for extreme fidelity and extraordinary courage in the line of duty.^[10] He was awarded the CIA's Intelligence Star in 1963 after his return from the Soviet Union.