Marvin F. Muir

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Marvin F. Muir (0-541641), Second Lieutenant (Air Corps), U.S. Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as an Officer of a Troop Carrier Aircraft in the 93d Troop Carrier Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier Group, NINTH Air Force, while participating in an air mission on 6 June 1944, while flying paratroopers to their assigned drop zone during the Normandy invasion in France. Second Lieutenant Muir was flying the lead in an element of the 439th Group when his ship, hit by enemy fire, burst into flames only two and a half minutes from the drop area. Although forced to leave the formation, he stuck to his post, battling the controls to accomplish his mission effectively and to drop his paratroopers in the assigned drop zone. In a vain effort, he tried to crash-land the flaming plane hoping to save the trapped crew. The personal courage and devotion to duty displayed by Second Lieutenant Muir on this occasion, at the cost of his life, have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 9th Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.