“He has that magnetic quality that’s able to make you look at him, even when he’s not doing a lot. He has the ability to move a scene, and move a performance, with just a subtle shift.”
Beirne Lay recommended Cleven for the Medal of Honor. “I didn’t get it and I didn’t deserve it,” Cleven said. He did receive the Distinguished Service Cross but never went to London to pick it up. “Medal, hell, I needed an aspirin,” he commented afterward. “So I remain undecorated.”
—Donald L. Miller, Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
MASTERS OF THE AIR
Part Three ⬩ Austin Butler as Maj. Gale "Buck" Cleven