Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse, Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, presents British awards to personnel of the United States Army Air Force at the Viceregal Lodge, Belvedere, Calcutta, India.

American band marches past. View from balcony of band marching by. Airmen marching with shouldered rifles. The parade forms up. Band playing. View of the parade. Air Chief Marshal Peirse arrives by car and gets out. Airmen present arms and Peirse takes the salute. American airmen to be decorated in line in foreground, namely Major-General Stratemeyer, head of Eastern Air Command, Lieutenant-Colonel Boebel and Staff Sergeant Cherry. Stratemeyer's citation for the Companion of the Order of the Bath is read out, praising his 'distinguished service in the Allied cause'. Stratemeyer steps forward and is decorated by Peirse. Salutes are exchanged. Boebel's citation for the Distinguished Flying Cross is read out, praising his 'disregard for personal danger and unflagging zeal' and his work '[making] possible the evacuation of a large number of wounded by the light plane force and the maintenance of physical contact with detached bodies of troops'. Boebel is decorated by Peirse and salutes are exchanged. Cherry is decorated with the Distinguished Flying Medal. Peirse addresses the parade, and speaks of this ceremony as 'deeply symbolic of all that is best between two nations; faith, courage and friendship'. He pays warm tribute to General Stratemeyer's determination to make the joint Allied Air Command a success, and calls him a 'great leader, great Ally, and a great personal friend'. Stratemeyer, Boebel and Cherry pose with their medals in front of British and American flags.

Notes

Dopesheet adds that Lieutenant-Colonel Boebel hails from Buffalo, New York, and Staff Sergeant Cherry from Klamath Falls, Oregon.

No slates, date from dopesheet. This date likely to be wrong, as Peirse had left India on 28 November 1944 with Lady Auchinleck in somewhat scandalous circumstances.