Albert D. Sturtevant

With another plane from the same unit, piloted by a South African named Faux, their assignment was to escort a convoy of ships carrying beef between the Netherlands and Britain.

Faux managed to elude his attackers and escaped to the west and England, but Purdy was forced south towards the coast of Belgium.

As if the situation were not dire enough, another group of German aircraft, led by Oberleutnant Friedrich Christiansen, air ace, entered the fray.

Christiansen later told Sturtevant's father that he circled the area and observed three crew members waving and clinging to the wreckage, but that he was unable to rescue them because it was a dangerous situation.

[citation needed] "The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Ensign Albert D. Sturtevant, United States Navy, for distinguished and heroic service as an Aviator attached to the Royal Air Force Station at Felixstowe, England, making a great many offensive patrol flights over the North Sea and was shot down when engaged gallantly in combat with a number of enemy planes.