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Name: Remington Vernam
Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) Remington Vernam
Country: United States
Rank: Lieutenant
Service: French Air Service
United States Air Service
Units: Spa96 (FAS)
22nd Aero (USAS)
Victories: 6
Born: 24 March 1896
Place of Birth: Rutherford, New Jersey, USA
Died: 01 December 1918 Died From Wounds
Place of Death: Longwy, France
Cemetery: St. Mihiel American Cemetery and Memorial, Thiaucourt, France
 
 
The son of Gaston and Adah F. (Price) Vernam, Remington Vernam served with the French Air Service before reassignment to the United States Air Service. On 30 October 1918 he was badly wounded when he was shot down behind German lines. Abandoned by his captors as they withdrew from France, he died from his wounds.

Arverne, New York and Vernam Basin in Jamaica Bay were named in honor of Remington Vernam's grandfather, a lawyer with the same name, who actively promoted the construction of beachfront cottages in the 1880s.

Listed as "Remington Vernam" on his birth certificate and in the 1901 census; listed as "Remington DeB. Vernam" by his mother in a memorial she wrote in 1930; listed as "R. DeB. Vernam" in the cemetery index; listed as "Remington D.B. Vernam" in his DSC citation.
 
Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Remington D. B. Vernam, First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Buzancy, France, October 10, 1918. Successively attacking two enemy balloons, which were moored to their nests, Lieutenant Vernam displayed the highest degree of daring. He executed his task despite the fact that several enemy planes were above him, descending to an altitude of less than ten meters when five miles within the enemy lines. His well-directed fire caused both balloons to burst into flames."
General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 12 Aug 1918 Spa96 SPAD Balloon 1 Tilloy
2 10 Oct 1918 1410 22nd   Balloon Bayonville
3 10 Oct 1918 1410 22nd   Balloon Buzancy
4 18 Oct 1918 1135 22nd   Rumpler C Haraumont-Damvillers
5 29 Oct 1918 1255 22nd   DFW C 2 Jandelitze
6 30 Oct 1918 1540 22nd   Fokker D.VII Buzancy

1 Shared with Capt Charles Lefevre, Sgt Degrott, Sgt Courtieu
2 Shared with Lt F B Tyndall
 
Books
American Aces of World War 1
by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front
by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)
 
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