Captain Arthur A. Wallace distinguished himself by heroism while participating in aerial flight as a CH-3 (Sikorsky) helicopter pilot in Southeast Asia on 26 April 1968. On that date, Captain Wallace flew his unarmed helicopter through a massive barrage of anti-aircraft and automatic weapons fire to rescue a fallen comrade who had bailed out of his stricken aircraft. While under heavy fire from anti-aircrafts guns not more than one hundred yards away from his position and from automatic weapons fired by unfriendly ground troops closing in around him, he remained in a prolonged and highly vulnerable hover and hoisted the downed airman to safety. The outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty displayed by Captain Wallace reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Quoting the narrative of the downed pilot: “I want to emphasize that the actions of the crew of Pony Express 12 constituted one of the most courageous feats I have ever observed; the entire rescue – although it seemed like hours at the time – consumed perhaps ten minutes, and had the crew not reacted as quickly as they did, in utter disregard for their own safety, my capture and quite possibly death would have shortly followed.”

Arthur A. Wallace achieved the rank of Major prior to his separation from active service. He was born in Dover and entered the service from Newcomerstown, Ohio.