Robert Edward Femoyer

Robert Edward Femoyer
2d Lt Robert Edward Femoyer, Medal of Honor recipient
Born	(1921-10-31)October 31, 1921 Huntington, West Virginia
Died	November 2, 1944(1944-11-02) (aged 23) England
Place of burial	Greenlawn Cemetery, Jacksonville, Florida
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces
Years of service	1942–1944
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Unit	711th Bombardment Squadron, 447th Bombardment Group (Heavy)
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Medal of Honor Purple Heart

Robert Edward Femoyer (October 31, 1921 – November 2, 1944) is one of only nine known Eagle Scouts to receive the Medal of Honor; the others are Aquilla J. Dyess, Eugene B. Fluckey, Thomas R. Norris, Arlo L. Olson, Mitchell Paige, Ben L. Salomon, Leo K. Thorsness, and Jay Zeamer, Jr.. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces and is the only navigator awarded the Medal of Honor.

Femoyer was from Huntington, West Virginia, an Eagle Scout, he attended Virginia Tech, from 1940 to 1943. A building at Virginia Tech is named in his honor.

Femoyer joined the Enlisted Reserve Corps on November 11, 1942 and was called to active duty in February 1943. He took basic training at Miami Beach, Florida, aircrew training at the University of Pittsburgh, and became an aviation cadet at the Mississippi Institute of Aeronautics in Jackson but failed his pilot training. In 1944, he graduated from the Army Air Force (AAF) Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida, and the AAF Navigation School at Selman Field, Louisiana. From his training assignments, he went to the European Theater in September 1944, as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the 447th Bomb Group's 711th Bombardment Squadron.

Six weeks later, on November 2, 1944, he was the navigator of a B-17 Flying Fortress on a bombing mission over Merseburg, Germany, his bomber was struck by three antiaircraft shells and he was wounded. He was in pain and had significant blood loss, but refused morphine in order to keep his head clear while he continued to navigate the bomber for two and a half hours, changing course six times to avoid enemy antiaircraft fire. He remained alert though his pain was described as "almost beyond the realm of human endurance". Once the airplane was in safe airspace over the English Channel, Femoyer finally agreed to an injection of morphine; but thirty minutes after landing he died of wounds. His actions saved the lives of the entire crew. For his actions during this mission, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor. His body rests in Jacksonville, Florida.