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15AF Commander Presents Purple Heart

  • Published
  • By 15th Air Force Staff Writer
  • 15 AF

On January 29, 2025, Maj Gen David Lyons, Fifteenth Air Force commander, presented a Purple Heart to Sergeant Harold “Bud” Pressel and posthumously awarded a Purple Heart to Maj (ret.) Richard Olson for injuries sustained during World War II.

“Today, we rectify this error in awarding the Purple Heart posthumously to Major Richard Olson for wounds sustained on June 13, 1944, and to Sergeant “Bud” Pressel for wounds sustained on February 7, 1945,” said Lyons.

On June 13, 1944, Major Olson was flying his fifteenth combat mission, tasked with a bombing raid on Munich. As the aerial formation transited the Adriatic Sea, they were intercepted by German ME-109 fighters and the B-24 took heavy fire. Unable to keep up in the formation, the pilot, Robert Remington, turned back toward Italy but, a fire in the rear bay forced the decision to hit the bailout buzzer.

Olson made his way back to the top turret gunner, Alvin Houpt, who was unaware of the extent of the damage and likely unable to hear the bailout buzzer. With shell fragments imbedded in his leg, Olson helped Houpt from his gunner seat and directed the rest of the crew into the bomb bay for an emergency bailout through the open bay doors.

Two crew members were killed in the attack, the remaining crew surviving the bailout, landing on the northeast coastline of Italy. With wounds to his leg and an injury to his back from the jump, Olson and the survivors were captured and transferred to successive POW camps, finally ending up in Stalag-7A in Moosburg, Germany for the duration of the war.

February 7, 1945, Sergeant Pressel was on his third combat mission from Torretta Field. His B-24 was conducting a bombing mission of oil refineries across the Danube River from Vienna, Austria. Due to German smoke screens, the B-24 crew was required to conduct a second pass to strike the refinery, after dropping its munitions, the aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft flak, causing a major fuel leak and rapid loss of altitude from 26,000 feet to just over 14,000 feet. Knowing the crew would not make it over the Swiss Alps at such low altitudes, the pilot turned for the Russian border and Allied territory. After crossing the Austria-Hungary border, the damage to the left wing became uncontrollable, and the entire crew bailed over Hungary, in enemy territory.

Pressel bailed from 14,500 feet, when he attempted to pull the D-ring of his rip cord to release his parachute, the ring broke, and the parachute did not deploy. Plummeting to the earth at 120 miles per hour, Pressel pulled at the straps of his jump gear, deploying the small pilot chute, followed by the main parachute. The rapid descent of the aircraft followed by the lengthy free-fall ruptured Pressel’s left ear, leaving him with permanent hearing loss and nerve damage.

Pressel was captured by a German patrol in a cornfield in Hungary and transferred to successive POW camps, also ending up in Stalag-7A in Moosburg, Germany.

Together, along with nearly 120,000 fellow Prisoners of War, Olson and Pressel were liberated on April 29, 1945, by the 14th Armored Division of the U.S. Army, under the Command of General George S. Patton.

Olson’s grandsons, Eric and Mark Olson accepted his medal on his behalf.

“There are the words ‘never forget’ and there is never forgetting. That’s why we’re here today,” said Mark Olson.