Lloyd Herbert Hughes

Infobox Military Person
name=Second Lieutenant Lloyd "Pete" Herbert HughesArmy Air Forces


born= birth date|1921|07|12
died= death date and age|1943|08|01|1921|07|12
placeofbirth=Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana
placeofdeath=Prahova River, Campina, Romania
placeofburial=
nickname=
allegiance=flagicon|United States United States of America
branch= Army Air Forces
serviceyears=1942-1943
rank=Second Lieutenant
commands=
unit=564th Squadron, 389th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force
battles=World War II
awards=*Medal of Honor *Purple Heart *American Campaign Medal *European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars for participation in the Air Offensive Europe, Sicily, and Air Combat Campaigns *World War II Victory Medal *Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem *Meritorious Unit Commendation Emblem *Aviation Badge "Pilot"

Lloyd "Pete" Herbert Hughes (July 12, 1921 – August 1, 1943) was a second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Operation Tidal Wave during World War II.

Military Biography

During Operation Tidal Wave, the most highly decorated military mission in U.S. history, [http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006485 Lloyd H Hughes] from USAF Air Force Link website, retrieved 06/02/08] 179 B-24s took off on an 18-hour, 2,400 mile round trip mission to destroy the largest of the Nazi-held oil refineries at Ploesti, 30 miles north of Bucharest, Romania. This day, Aug. 1, 1943, would end with five U.S. Air Force airmen, including 2nd Lt. Lloyd Herbert Hughes, earning the Medal of Honor for bravery; three, including Hughes, posthumously. Fifty-four aircraft never returned.

Lloyd Herbert Hughes, Jr. was born in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA. Family and friends called him Pete. He was the only son of Lloyd Herbert Hughes, Sr. and Mildred Mae Rainey Hughes. One source described the parents as Welsh immigrants, but Mildred was born in Josserand, Trinity County, Texas.

He graduated from Refugio High School in 1939 in Refugio, Refugio County, Texas. He attended both Corpus Christi Junior College, Corpus Christi, Texas and Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, and entered the military service at San Antonio on January 28, 1942. He was appointed an aviation cadet the same day, and attended flight school at Tulsa and Enid, Oklahoma.

On 8 Nov 1942, Lloyd Herbert HUGHES married Hazel Dean EWING Hughes, the 19 year old daughter of Jefferson Davis EWING and Etta Lelia CARLILE Ewing.

Hughes received his pilot's wings at Lubbock, Texas, on Nov. 10, 1942, and was assigned to the 389th Bombardment Group. He went to Africa in June 1943 and participated in five combat missions in the Italy-Romania area.

During the Aug. 1, 1943 bombing mission over the Campina oil fields north of the Ploesti oil fields in Romania, Hughes was the pilot of a B-24 heavy bombardment aircraft flying in the last element of a formation. He arrived in the target area when the enemy defenses were thoroughly alerted by previous aircraft. He approached the target at dangerously low altitude as was planned, through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire and densely arranged barrage balloons. Several hits from both large and small caliber antiaircraft guns seriously damaged his aircraft. Sheets of escaping gasoline streamed from the bomb bay and from the left wing. The leak was so heavy that it blinded his waist gunner's view. The damage was inflicted prior to reaching the target, when Hughes could have made a forced landing in one of the surrounding grain fields. The target area was blazing with burning oil tanks refinery equipment, with flames leaping high above the bombing level of the formation. Knowing the consequences of entering the inferno with his airplane leaking gasoline in two places, Hughes elected to carry on, rather than jeopardize the formation and the success of the attack. He flew into the wall of fire at about 30 feet above the ground and dropped his bomb load with precision.

After successfully bombing the target, he emerged from the conflagration with the left wing of his aircraft on fire. He attempted to pull up and away from the action, trying to save his plane and crew. He successfully slowed the plane's speed form 225 to 100 miles an hour. It looked as if he would be able to crash land in the dry river bed of the Prahova River, when suddenly the left wing flew off and the plane cartwheeled into the ground. Of the ten men aboard the B-24, Hughes and five others were killed, two died of their wounds within days and two survived the crash only to became prisoners of war.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On August 1943, 2d Lt. Hughes served in the capacity of pilot of a heavy bombardment aircraft participating in a long and hazardous minimum-altitude attack against the Axis oil refineries of Ploesti, Rumania, launched from the northern shores of Africa. Flying in the last formation to attack the target, he arrived in the target area after previous flights had thoroughly alerted the enemy defenses. Approaching the target through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire and dense balloon barrages at dangerously low altitude, his plane received several direct hits from both large and small caliber antiaircraft guns which seriously damaged his aircraft, causing sheets of escaping gasoline to stream from the bomb bay and from the left wing. This damage was inflicted at a time prior to reaching the target when 2d Lt. Hughes could have made a forced landing in any of the grain fields readily available at that time. The target area was blazing with burning oil tanks and damaged refinery installations from which flames leaped high above the bombing level of the formation. With full knowledge of the consequences of entering this blazing inferno when his airplane was profusely leaking gasoline in two separate locations, 2d Lt. Hughes, motivated only by his high conception of duty which called for the destruction of his assigned target at any cost, did not elect to make a forced landing or turn back from the attack. Instead, rather than jeopardize the formation and the success of the attack, he unhesitatingly entered the blazing area and dropped his bomb load with great precision. After successfully bombing the objective, his aircraft emerged from the conflagration with the left wing aflame. Only then did he attempt a forced landing, but because of the advanced stage of the fire enveloping his aircraft the plane crashed and was consumed. By 2d Lt. Hughes' heroic decision to complete his mission regardless of the consequences in utter disregard of his own life, and by his gallant and valorous execution of this decision, he has rendered a service to our country in the defeat of our enemies which will everlastingly be outstanding in the annals of our Nation's history.

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients
*List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II

References