Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal

Gary R. Pfingston (January 2, 1940 – June 23, 2007) was an airman in the United States Air Force who served as the 10th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 1990 to 1994.

Major General Salvador Enrique Felices (August 13, 1923 – July 14, 1987) was the first Puerto Rican to reach the rank of major general in the United States Air Force. In 1957, he participated in "Operation Power Flite", the first round-the-world nonstop flight by a jet airplane.

Major General Orlando Llenza (July 1, 1930 – March 11, 2021) was the second Puerto Rican to reach the rank of Major General (two-star General) in the United States Air Force. Llenza served as commander of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard (PRANG).

Lieutenant General Eugene Francis Tighe, Jr. (June 19, 1921 – January 29, 1994) was director of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency (September 1977 – August 1981).

Carlos Maurice Talbott (January 28, 1920 – February 26, 2015) was a United States Air Force officer who attained the rank of lieutenant general and was vice commander in chief of the Pacific Air Forces, headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base.

Theodore Ross Milton (29 December 1915 – 24 August 2010) was a United States Army and Air Force (USAF) officer and pilot.

Lieutenant General George H. McKee (April 28, 1923 – January 6, 2015) was an American Air Force lieutenant general and command pilot who was commander of Air Training Command with headquarters at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

General James Arthur Hill (October 23, 1923 – October 1, 2010) was a four-star general in the United States Air Force (USAF) who served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.
Hill was born in 1923 in Lancaster, Ohio. Orphaned at sixteen, he graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1940 and attended Ohio State University in 1942. He was inducted into the United States Army in January 1943 and through aviation cadet training received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in February 1944. He subsequently qualified in multi-engine aircraft.
During World War II, Hill flew 31 European Theater combat missions in the B-24 Liberator bomber while assigned to the 566th Bombardment Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group. After the war, he served at various bases in the United States until 1949 when he was called upon to fly C-54 Skymaster aircraft in the Berlin Airlift.
In October 1949 he was assigned to the Air Training Command at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where he served as a basic training squadron commander, and later as executive officer in the U.S. Air Force Preflight Training School.
In April 1955 he was assigned to the Far East Air Forces, initially as an operations officer with the 483d Troop Carrier Wing and in May 1956 as chief of current operations for the 315th Air Division at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan.
Hill returned to the United States in June 1958 to fill a number of different positions in the Western Transport Air Force (now Twenty-Second Air Force) at Travis Air Force Base, California. From August 1960 to July 1961, he attended the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, after which he was assigned to Headquarters USAF, Washington, D.C., as an operations staff officer in the Plans and Capabilities Branch of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations. In July 1964 he became deputy assistant director for joint matters in the Directorate of Operations.
From July 1965 to August 1966, he served as deputy commander for operations, 1502d Air Transport Wing (redesignated the 61st Military Airlift Wing) at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.
In September 1966 Hill was assigned to Headquarters Military Airlift Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois as the director of current operations and later as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations. In July 1968 he was reassigned to Travis Air Force Base as the commander, 60th Military Airlift Wing. In March 1970 he returned to Headquarters Military Airlift Command as deputy chief of staff for operations.
Hill returned to the Pentagon in March 1971 as deputy director of programs. He became the director in December 1971; was assigned as assistant deputy chief of staff, programs and resources in May 1974; and assigned duties as deputy chief of staff, programs and resources in July 1974. In June 1977 Hill became commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base.
Hill assumed duties as vice chief of staff on July 1, 1978, and was promoted to the grade of general on July 10, 1978. He retired from the United States Air Force on February 29, 1980.
He died on October 1, 2010, after a long battle with myelodysplastic syndrome.He was rated a command pilot. His military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

Defense Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster
Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster
Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Lieutenant General Albert Patton Clark (August 27, 1913 – March 8, 2010) was the sixth superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

General Jack Joseph Catton (February 5, 1920 – December 4, 1990) was a United States Air Force four-star general and was commander of the Air Force Logistics Command with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and of the Military Airlift Command.
General Catton was born in Berkeley, California, in 1920. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, Santa Monica Junior College and Loyola University in Los Angeles, California.
He entered the Army Air Corps in 1940 as a flying cadet and received pilot training at Santa Maria, California, and Randolph and Kelly Fields in Texas. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in February 1941.
Early in World War II, General Catton served as an instructor pilot at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, and Hendricks Field, Florida, and as a squadron commander at Lockbourne Field, Ohio. He flew the first B-29 bomber across the Pacific to the Mariana Islands in 1944. While serving with the XXI Bomber Command he was awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster for extraordinary achievement during combat missions against Japan.
In 1946 and 1947 General Catton took part in the first two atomic weapons tests in the Pacific. During this period, he also commanded the 65th Bombardment Squadron. In June 1948 he was assigned as chief of the Policy Branch, Directorate of Plans, at Strategic Air Command headquarters, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. He moved with the command to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, as chief of the Requirements Branch, Directorate of Plans. After a successful bout with polio, he went to March Air Force Base, California, in 1950 and served as director of operations for the 22d Bombardment Wing and later for the 12th Air Division until November 1951.
After flying combat missions against North Korea out of Japan for 90 days, General Catton went to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, in February 1952 as deputy commander of the 92d Bombardment Wing. As commander, he later led the wing from Fairchild to Guam in the first test of B-36 aircraft capabilities in sustained oversea operations. He then went to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, to command the 43d Bombardment Wing for a year. In June 1956 he returned to SAC headquarters for a tour of duty in the Directorate of Operations.
In November 1958 General Catton was selected chief of staff for the Eighth Air Force, Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts. When he assumed command of the 817th Air Division at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, in July 1959, he was the youngest brigadier general in the Air Force. Two years later he took command of the 822d Air Division, Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, where he served one year prior to becoming commander of the 823d Air Division at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. In August 1963 he was named commander of the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
In February 1964 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as director of operational requirements, deputy chief of staff for programs and requirements (later reorganized as Operational Requirements and Development Plans, Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development). During this period, he served as the Department of Defense representative and chairman of the National Committee for Clear Air Turbulence. In July 1966 he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Resources as the director of Aerospace Programs, with additional duties as chairman of the Air Staff Board. In August 1967 he became deputy chief of staff for programs and resources.
Catton took command of Fifteenth Air Force at March Air Force Base, California, in August 1968, and of the Military Airlift Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois the following August. In September 1972 he became the commander of the Air Force Logistics Command with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
He was a command pilot and qualified in the C-5 Galaxy, C-141 Starlifter, C-9 Nightingale, all bombers from the B-17 Flying Fortress through the B-52 Stratofortress, KC-97 Stratofreighter and KC-135 Stratotanker, the F-4 Phantom II fighter bomber and the HH-53 helicopter. In addition he had limited experience in many of the century series fighters, and logged nearly 14,000 flying hours.