Why the American DFC ? Dad never talked much about his wartime experiences but through some of his fighter pilot buds I finally found out about his DFC.One of the reasons he was awarded it is the following:
It seems that while patrolling the English Channel he overheard a conversation between a wounded American fighter pilot and his home base.He dove down and intercepted the wounded flier who was now slipping in and out of consciousness from loss of blood.Dad flew up along side and was encouraging the pilot to fight to remain conscious singing dirty air force songs with him and even bumping his wingtip.He stayed with him until he finally crashed into the sea and was KIA.
The whole episode was heard on the radio back at fighter command and I guess they wanted to formally recognize the event.The one problem was that breaking formation especially by the leader was against British air force regulations, no matter what the reason and he could have been called to account for it.Luckily for dad they officially ignored the whole thing as they couldn't be seen as rewarding him for breaking regulations. So that is where the Americans stepped in and said it was for helping them set up their own night fighter squadron or something to that effect.
This account was later verified to me by the sister of the American pilot.