Charles J. Loring Jr.

He plunged his stricken fighter into guns firing on his men.

Charles Joseph Loring Jr., born in Portland, Maine, in 1918, entered military service in 1942. During the Second World War he flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 22nd Fighter Squadron, 36th Fighter Group. After fifty-five combat missions he was shot down and became a German prisoner of war.

Loring continued his Air Force career after liberation and was sent to Korea in 1952. On 22 November, Major Loring led four F-80 Shooting Stars on a close-support mission near Kunwha. The aircraft were directed against enemy gun positions threatening United Nations ground troops. Accurate antiaircraft fire damaged his fighter during the attack. Instead of breaking away, he deliberately continued toward the guns and crashed into the position, destroying it at the cost of his own life.

His widow received his posthumous Medal of Honor from President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954. His career also brought the Distinguished Flying Cross and twelve Air Medals. Limestone Air Force Base in Maine was renamed Loring Air Force Base in his honour.