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 The Dutch have not bestowed their coveted Flying Cross on one of their countrymen since World War II, much less on an American. But this prestigious honor was given to a US pilot in January when Dutch Minister of Defense Frank de Grave pinned the Dutch Flying Cross on Maj. William Thomas during a ceremony at The Hague.
Thomas and his flight lead, RNLAF Maj. Marcel Duivelsteijn, received the award for their actions during Operation Allied Force. Thomas, a fifteen-year veteran, was assigned as an exchange pilot at the time to RNLAF’s 323rd Tactical Training Test Evaluation and Standardization Squadron at Leeuwarden Air Base. In June 1999, both F-16 pilots were initially assigned a night targeting pod mission over Batajnica airfield, near Belgrade, Serbia, to destroy hardened aircraft shelters. Just before takeoff, their air-tasking order changed to find and destroy four MiG-29s parked on the Batajnica airfield.
Without any other air support, the Fighting Falcon pilots located two of the four MiGs on their first pass and took out a grounded aircraft each. Coming back around, Thomas destroyed a third MiG. Meanwhile, the Serbs fired two surface-to-air missiles, forcing Duivelsteijn to take a low-altitude dive while temporarily blinded from the plume of one of the SAMs. Thomas, realizing Duivelsteijn was in trouble, flew into the AAA zone and dispensed flares to draw the artillery barrages away from Duivelsteijn. Both pilots escaped.
“This honor is special because it is being awarded to an American assigned to a Dutch unit who excelled in bravery in circumstances that can be compared to wartime,” de Grave said to those attending a ceremony that included several World War II veterans, all of whom were past recipients of Dutch decorations for bravery and valor. The Flying Cross is the second highest medal attainable in the RNLAF. The Queen of the Netherlands approved the award. Prior to Thomas, just eighty-eight foreigners, eleven of whom were Americans, have earned the medal. Thomas served with the 323rd from October 1998 to June 2001.
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