BLECKLEY, ERWIN R. - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 130th
Field Artillery, observer 50th Aero Squadron, Air Service. Place and date.
Near Binarville, France, 6 October 1918. Entered service at: Wichita, Kans.
Birth: Wichita, Kans. G.O. No.: 56, W.D., 1922. Citation: 2d Lt. Bleckley,
with his pilot, 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettler, Air Service, left the airdrome
late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion
of the 77th Division, which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne
Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the
enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to
get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course
of his mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun
fire from the ground, resulting in fatal wounds to 2d Lt. Bleckley, who
died before he could be taken to a hospital. In attempting and performing
this mission 2d Lt. Bleckley showed the highest possible contempt of personal
danger, devotion to duty, courage, and valor.
This data was extracted from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973)
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