Sixty-five years after flying a bombing mission over Europe, an Army Air Corps veteran will receive the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Joseph Moser, an 87-year-old Whatcom County resident, will receive the honor for "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight" at McChord Air Force Base’s annual awards banquet Thursday night. Two former members of his squadron will escort Moser on stage, and more than 30 members of his family are expected to be in attendance.

Moser was a first lieutenant in the 474th Fighter Group. On July 30, 1944, he flew a “highly successful bombing mission over a heavily fortified target,” according to a McChord release. Two weeks later, Moser’s P-38 Lightning was shot down over Germany. He was captured and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Moser didn’t receive the Distinguished Flying Cross because of a paperwork error; he didn’t even know he was eligible for it until the early 1990s. Then, according the McChord release:

After a few unsuccessful attempts by his family to petition state officials for a ceremony, the effort lost steam.

“I just figured it was lost and that I would never get it,” said Mr. Moser, now 87.

But momentum was re-ignited after author and friend Gerald Baron discovered the oversight in interviews with Mr. Moser for a book he was working on. Upon making some connections at a local Rotary Club meeting, Mr. Baron contacted retired Chief Master Sgt. Rick Arnold, who helped get the ball rolling again, he said.

“The whole process has been exciting and incredibly rewarding,” Mr. Baron said. “It’s exciting to see what (the commitment to awarding the Distinguished Flying Cross) means to the Air Force.”

When Mr. Baron told Mr. Moser that he was finally going to be publicly acknowledged, the 87-year-old lifetime Whatcom County resident could hardly believe his ears.

“I thought he was pulling my leg – I didn’t really believe it,” Mr. Moser said. “It still hasn’t really sunk in – it’s quite an honor.”

In the comments section of executive editor Karen Peterson’s Sunday column, a reader asked, “Is there an embedding charge from the military, aside from the safety gear? Do you apply to embed with a unit, someone reviews the application and charges a fee based on the situation?”

Journalists apply with Multi-National Force-Iraq, which coordinates with a unit for an embed slot. The application is a few pages; journalists must also sign ground rules that restrict what one can report. My embed application took a bit of work (I’m asking to cover one unit in four locations), but it was rather effortless on my end.

There’s no fee to embed with a unit, but the process isn’t free.

Usually the most expensive single cost of an embed is the flight. Most journalists (reporters or photographers) fly into Kuwait. That costs about $1,200 to $1,500 for the round-trip ticket. Equally as expensive can be an insurance policy that covers individuals in Iraq.

The cost of safety gear – helmet, vest, SAPI plates and ballistic sunglasses – can total into the thousands of dollars. Vaccinations can also be pricey; the Centers for Disease Control suggests protection against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and rabies.

Others costs add up. Up-front expenses include proper clothes and a power converter/adapter. We’ll spend money in Iraq by using a satellite phone. Travelers must purchase entry and exit visas for Kuwait. Journalists must bring their own technology – laptop, camera, audio recorder – which isn’t cheap.

Once in Iraq, the military provides a place to sleep, meals and transportation on a space-available basis.

Another large expense comes after the embed is finished: The military suggests that the journalist schedules his or her flight from Kuwait four days after the embed is finished. That can mean four days of hotel costs, meals and other daily costs in an expensive country.

So even though the trip costs lots of money during this period of belt-tightening, we’ve made coverage of the military a priority.

(Flickr photo by Tracy O)