Lot of (2) Medals Awarded to World War I Navy Pilot Eric Lingard. The larger item is a rare bronze Aero Club of America Honor and Merit medal awarded to Lingard for his anti-submarine efforts described below. The medal, by Pierre Roche, is 68 mm and depicts a bird with a nude female torso encircled by stars and the legend COELI COLIS / STELLARVM CORONA. The reverse is dominated by a wreath with HONOR AND MERIT above, over the Aero Club of America logo and a plaque inscribed ENSIGN ERIC LINGARD. The date 1917 is at the bottom. The second item is Lingards World War I Service badge with the seldom-seen AVIATON bar, issued only to Navy airmen. It is complete with its functioning pinback hanger, although the ribbon is a faded and a bit worn. Grades are About Uncirculated and Extremely Fine, respectively.<p>Lingard received acclaim for his action against German submarine <em>U-158</em> off the coast of Orleans, on Cape Cod. The submarine had attacked a tugboat pulling four barges. The tug was destroyed, but all personnel on the tug and barges were rescued. During the attack a torpedo missed its target and continued on, detonating on the beach. Additionally, many of the machine gun shells fired at the tug struck the beach, but no people were hit. This was the only direct attack on the American mainland by enemy forces in World War I! Ensign Lingard became involved when reports of the attack were received at Chatham Naval Air Station, just a few miles south. Lingard and his crew of two were first to get their flying boat aloft and head to their target. As they came onto the scene, the seaplane lined up with the submarine, but when the bomb drop lever was pulled, nothing happened. A second pass produced the same result, so the aircraft mechanic went out onto the lower wing, detached the planes single bomb manually, and dropped it toward the U-boat. Unfortunately, the bomb failed to detonate. At that time a second flying boat reached the scene, dropped its lone bomb, but once again the bomb failed to explode. After firing at the circling planes a few more times, and with more planes on the way, the submarine commander decided the wisest move was to submerge and leave the area. The following year Lingard was onboard another seaplane attacking another German submarine that was farther off the coast of Cape Cod. The sub was diverted, but Lingards plane was shot down and the crew spent 27 hours in the icy October waters before being rescued. Weakened by hypothermia, he contracted influenza and died a few weeks later, just two weeks before the end of the war. A folder of photocopied documents and articles concerning Lingard and the attack accompany the medals. This was the only combat on the U.S. during World War I, his death was a result of attacking a German submarine in U.S. waters.