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Pilot gets medal 57 years after attack

Fifty-seven years after then-1st Lt. Dolph Overton maneuvered his F-84 through enemy fire to orchestrate one of the largest convoy attacks of the Korean War, he stood tall and proud as the Air Force’s highest officer pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on his chest.

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz paid tribute to Overton before a packed audience at the Air Force Association Air & Space Conference. The room fell silent as Schwartz spoke of the fighter ace and his courage, then read the award citation.

“For more than 50 years, the military records of Lt. Dolph Overton were not accurate. Due to clerical omissions, the accounts of his heroism and bravery during the Korean War were not properly recognized,” he told the crowd.

Schwartz then pinned the medal on Overton, saluted him and then embraced him.

Overton, 82, returned the salute and the hug. Lips trembling, he took in a standing ovation that culminated a six-month effort to set the record straight.

“It was a dream, I’ll tell you that,” Overton said the next day. “There was a lot of preparation and a lot of things going on, and now it all seems a blur and a blink.”

Within the next few weeks, Overton expects to have all the medals now documented in his service records: the Silver Star, first, second and third oak leaf clusters for gallantry in action, and the Distinguished Flying Cross and fourth and fifth oak leaf clusters for extraordinary achievement in aerial flight against the enemy.

Overton gained fame among his peers for shooting down five Russian MiGs in four days in January 1953, becoming the ninth fighter ace of the 51st Fighter Wing.

But it was recognition for his heroism during a mission on June 28, 1952, that had eluded him for decades.

Overton was group leader of 24 F-84s with the 49th Bomber Wing, 5th Air Force, when his group was called on to destroy a convoy of trucks. His skillful piloting allowed him to direct the attacks while under enemy fire, resulting in 150 trucks being destroyed.

“Lt. Overton’s command of this strike in such adverse conditions and with such devastating results highlights his superb flying skill and extraordinary heroism in the face of fierce enemy opposition,” according to his Distinguished Service Cross citation.

Overton knew he had earned some of his medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross.

“I had pictures of finishing my 100th mission,” he said.

The arrival of those medals never came, though, and Overton left the service in 1953.

“I’d had no contact with the service since then,” he said.

It wasn’t until decades later, when Overton reconnected with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland, a classmate at West Point, that he discovered there was a records correction board that corrects mistakes on military service records.

During the Korean War, then-Lt. Cleveland shot down four MiGs in eight weeks. Next came the fifth “kill,” for which he would have become a fighter ace. Because Cleveland had to leave the area before seeing the plane crash or the pilot eject, he reported the incident as a “probable kill.” His wingman, then-Lt. Don Pascoe, always believed Cleveland should have claimed the kill, according to a 2008 Air Force News Agency report.

When Overton heard Cleveland’s story, he began digging to find a way to get Cleveland’s record changed. The break in Cleveland’s case came in 2003, when Overton discovered detailed Russian flight records from the Korean War in the National Archives. A description of a downed MiG matched up with Cleveland’s story.

Overton went before the Air Force Board for Military Corrections, along with Cleveland, to argue that Cleveland should be credited for shooting down five MiGs. The retired general became an ace in 2008, 55 years after his fifth kill.

That’s when Overton started thinking about his own records and asked the corrections board to take on his case, he said. Like many other airmen, Overton’s personnel records were lost in a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. But the corrections board was able to piece together evidence of his medals, using combat mission reports and other documents, Overton said.

“They found traces of all the medals,” he said. “I understand it’s just a matter of days.”