No. 102

Before Pearl Harbor, some 9,000 exuberant young Americans swarmed across the border and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. So many of them were Texans that Canada's Honorary Air Marshal William Avery ("Billy") Bishop once cracked: "The Royal Texas Air Force!" After Pearl Harbor, some 3,400 transferred to the U.S. Air Forces. Others were casualties. But 2,800 of them are left.

One of the volunteers was John Danforth Browne, 23, of Florham Park, N.J. In 1941 he quit New York University, enlisted in the R.C.A.F. He fought out of North Africa and Britain. By last March his squadron had bagged 641 enemy planes.

Last week, in England, Squadron Leader Browne was awarded the Empire's coveted Distinguished Flying Cross. Said the citation: "This officer has displayed a high standard of skill and courage in operations against the enemy. He is an excellent leader. .. . ." Browne was the 102nd American R.C.A.F. man to win a British or Canadian decoration. Some others: P: Squadron Leader John Harvey Curry, 4g. A Texan (Dallas), he enlisted in 1940, won the D.F.C. and the Order of the British Empire.

P: Pilot Officer Claude Weaver Ill, 22, of Oklahoma City. Weaver enlisted in 1941, won a D.F.M. as a noncom, then a D.F.C. as an officer.

P: Flight Lieut. William John Sanger, 29, of Harvey, N.D., who enlisted in April 1941. A bomber pilot, he has won both the D.S.O. and the D.F.C. P: Flight Lieut. John Harlan Stickell, 30, Gilson, Ill. He joined up in 1941, is a bomber pilot, holds the D.S.O. and the D.F.C.

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