Robert Femoyer Medal of Honor hero whose radio calls saved a B-17 crew

Oct 06 , 2025

Robert Femoyer Medal of Honor hero whose radio calls saved a B-17 crew

In the thick smoke of a raging sky above Nazi Germany, a man lay dying—but his voice never faltered. Beneath a broken plane and searing pain, Robert E. Femoyer kept the radio cord tight, linking life and death. Every word was a lifeline thrown across chaos. Without him, that mission would have ended in silence.

Blood and Faith: Roots of Resolve

Born in Rainsboro, Ohio, February 9, 1919, Robert Femoyer was a boy shaped by small-town grit and a rock-solid faith. Raised in the embrace of scripture and Sunday school, he carried that anchor into the war—a compass for a soul staring into darkness.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13

Graduating from West Virginia University, Femoyer enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1942. Not a man eager for glory, but one forged in humility and duty. He believed courage wasn’t just muscle or firepower but moral steel—standing firm when the world fell apart.

The Mission: No Margin for Error

November 2, 1944. Femoyer’s B-17 bomber, nicknamed Hellcat, lifted into a sky thick with flak and enemy fighters. The target: a heavily fortified railroad tunnel near Saarbrücken, Germany. A vital artery. Destroy it, cripple the Nazi war machine.

At 20,000 feet, the heavens shattered. Anti-aircraft shells ruptured the plane’s belly and shrapnel found its mark—Femoyer took a bullet through his thigh. The pain? Crushing. Blood pouring. Yet every breath was a command to keep the radio alive.

As radio navigator, Femoyer’s role was simple on paper: guide the plane back home. But with his leg shattered, moving was agony. They needed his voice.

So, he stayed at the radio bench—bleeding, broken. Reporting position, course corrections, every critical call. Each message was a thread sewing the crew’s survival.

The aircraft faltered, wounded and limping. Pilots needed to know where flak was thickest, where to weave through enemy fighters—and Femoyer’s reports were the only chance. He spoke through hell and venom, refusing morphine until his final words.

“Despite a grievous wound…he persisted until the very end.” — Medal of Honor citation

His strength wasn’t just physical. It was will undiminished, a beacon cutting through the storm of war.

Honors That Echo

Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman in 1945, Femoyer’s citation doesn’t just list bravery—it curses the limits of human endurance. His “coolness and courage above and beyond the call of duty” saved the aircraft and crew from almost certain destruction.

Fellow crew members spoke of a man who, though mortally wounded, never once quit. Navigator and leader. Warrior and brother. His story threads through military history books, etched in the annals of air combat heroism.

Col. Robert L. Teed, his commanding officer, recalled:

“His actions saved the lives of every man aboard that B-17.”

Enduring Lessons: Courage Carved in Pain

Femoyer’s story isn’t just about bullets and planes. It’s a timeless testament to sacrifice—not in broad strokes but in blood-stained detail. Courage speaks loudest when every fiber screams to stop and the only choice is forward.

His faith burned beyond his mortal wounds, a whispered prayer amidst machine gun fire. It reminds us that heroism is as much spiritual as physical. He carried his squadron’s survival on the limp of a broken leg and the strength of an unbreakable spirit.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

The Last Transmission: A Legacy of Light

The silence that followed Femoyer’s last radio word was not emptiness. It was a passing of a torch. For those who knew war, his sacrifice was a sermon: to stand when you fall hurts most. To lift others with your final breath.

Veterans remember his story like a march step in their souls. Civilians learn lesson after lesson gifted by his courage. The battlefield took him, but his legacy fights on—etched in every radio call and every vow to never leave a brother behind.

Robert Femoyer’s name lives where scars meet valor—a reminder that true strength takes suffering and turns it into salvation. The sky remembers him. So should we.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Citation for Robert E. Femoyer 3. Truman Library, Presidential Medal of Honor Awards, 1945 4. West Virginia University Archives, Robert E. Femoyer Collection