U.S. AIR MEDAL AWARD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21143, 10 July 1943, Page 2

U.S. AIR MEDAL AWARD

NEW ZEALAND PILOT SERVICES IN AFRICA (P.A.) WELLINGTON. July 10. Details of how. Flight-Lieutenant Roy Currie Buchanan, D.F.C., Royal New Zealand Air Force, formerly of Invercargill, earned the United States Air Medal a short time ago have been received from London by the Air Department, Wellington. The ndws of Flight-Lieutenant Buchanan’s success was cabled to New Zealand in June, but the details of the particular exploit for which the award was made were not then available.

The citation says that Flight-Lieut. Buchanan receives the United States Air Medal for meritorious achievement while taking paid in aerial flights in North Africa between November 19 and December 27. 1942. The manner in which Flight-Lieutenant Buchanan performed these missions reflects great credit on the military services of the. United Nations. Flight--Lieutenant Buchanan was sent to North Africa with the invasion convoy and remained there doing some important work in the campaign for the United States Army. In the early stages of the campaign he was temporarily attached to a squadron led by Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, who is the President’s- son. In March last, Flight-Lieutenant Buchanan received the immediate award of the D.F.C.. the • citation for that award stating that he had flown on several longrange reconnaissance missions, including sorties to Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Cologne, Essen, Bremen, and Norway, and that in the course of his missions he had descended to 100 ft. in order to obtain photographs in bad weather.

Born at Invercargill in 3921, FlightLieutenant Buchanan was educated at Southland Technical College. Invercargill. 1-Ie commenced his pilot training in 1941. His mother is Mrs. C. Buchanan, Mataura