A-10 pilot gets DFC for efforts in Afghanistan - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

A-10 pilot gets DFC for efforts in Afghanistan

An A-10 pilot at Osan Air Base, South Korea, received the Distinguished Flying Cross recently for leading a nighttime combat search-and-rescue mission in Afghanistan in May 2007.

Maj. Daniel Clayton responded to the crash of a CH-47 Chinook and took on-scene command, coordinating A-11s, F-15Es, AH-64s, AC-130s and a KC-10 to protect a ground recovery team under fire by enemy forces.

“No one who supports or provides cover for our heroic soldiers ever wants to hear about a friendly or coalition aircraft being shot down,” Clayton said in an Air Force news release. “But every A-10 pilot wants to be the pilot overhead — to make sure all friendly or coalition pilots, aircrew, or recovery personnel are located, protected and extricated from such a dire, stressful and dangerous situation.”

The crash killed five U.S. soldiers, a British soldier and a Canadian soldier.

Col. Michael Newman, 51st Operations Group commander, who presented the award, said Clayton was “the kind of combat leader we should all aspire to be. He flawlessly executed a highly complex CSAR mission in the most testing of circumstances. It was my honor to present the DFC to him.”

Clayton deflected the praise.

“The five U.S. troops who lost their lives, and all the soldiers and airmen who risked their own lives going into a hostile environment to retrieve their comrades-in-arms’ remains ... are the ones who deserve the recognition, the awards and medals. It was an honor and a privilege to support them and ensure they all safely made it out of that situation. Those of us in the air were just doing our job to support them the best we could.”