Executive Order 4601

For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of Section 12 of the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1926, relative to the authorization of a Distinguished Flying Cross, the following rules and regulations pertaining to the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross are promulgated:

  

 The Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Treasury, acting for the President, will make the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to eligible persons in their respective departments. 

The initial recommendation for the award of the decoration may be made by any officer having information of the facts.

A recommendation must be based upon the statement of a person who has personal knowledge concerning the act of heroism or extraordinary achievement or who was an eye-witness thereto, preferably the immediate commander. Such act or achievement must be described specifically and in detail. When the recommendation is made by a person who was an eye-witness to the act or achievement or who has personal knowledge thereof, that fact must be stated. When the recommendation is made by a person who was not an eye-witness to the act or achievement or who does not have personal knowledge thereof, the testimony of at least two persons who were eye-witnesses or who have personal knowledge thereof, and who so describe themselves, must accompany the recommendation. Written testimony will be in the form of recognitions or affidavits.

Each recommendation for the award of the decoration will show, in case of the person who is being recommended, the exact status of that person at the time he displayed the heroism or extraordinary achievement upon which the recommendation is based, and will contain a specific statement that the entire service of that person, since the time he distinguished himself, has been honorable.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li>When a recommendation is supported by an official record that fact will be stated, and there will be included in the recommendation such information as will enable a prompt and certain identification of such record.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li>Each recommendation will be submitted separately and forwarded through regular channels with the views and recommendations of each commander indorsed thereon.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li> <BR/>

<li>In case an individual who distinguishes himself shall have died before the making of the award to which he may be entitled, the award may nevertheless be made and the cross, bar, or other device presented to the representative of the deceased in the following order: widow (provided she has not remarried), eldest son, eldest daughter, father, mother, eldest brother, eldest sister, eldest grandchild.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li>Not more than one of the several decorations authorized by Federal law will be awarded for the same act of heroism or extraordinary achievement.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li>Whenever the Distinguished Flying Cross, bar, or other suitable device shall have been lost, destroyed, or rendered unfit for use, without fault or neglect on the part of the person to whom it was awarded, such cross, bar, or other device shall be replaced without charge therefor by the department by which the award was made.<BR/><BR/></li>

<li> The Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Treasury may promulgate, for the service pertaining to their respective departments, such additional regulations, supplementary to these regulations and not in conflict therewith, as they may deem proper, and may from time to time alter, modify, or rescind such regulations.<BR/><BR/></li></ol>

, March 1, 1927. [Source: The provisions of Executive Order 4601 of March 1, 1927, do not appear in the Federal Register system.]