VIENNA Air Force to honor man for '56 action

He recently learned that other members of his crew had been decorated.
VIENNA -- It came 42 years late, but James M. Beck says he's grateful to finally be decorated with the Air Medal for action that happened in 1956.
Beck, 67, of Canton Township, who served in the Air Force from 1953 to 1957, was to receive the medal at 11:15 a.m. today in a ceremony at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. About 30 relatives and friends were expected to attend.
The other members of his B-29 bomber crew were decorated in the late 1950s. Beck speculated he might have been overlooked because he left the Air Force in 1957 and the other crew members remained in the service.
"I really appreciate it. They forgot me and now I'm going to get remembered," he said before the ceremony. "It's something we earned. We stuck our necks out to get information for the government."
What he did: In 1956, Beck was an aerial photographer who served as a nose gunner on night reconnaissance missions out of Yakota Air Base in Japan.
On the night for which the medal was awarded, his B-29 bomber, piloted by Capt. Clayton Cairl, was flying off the coast between Formosa and China trying to pick up radar stations when they were spotted by Russian MiGs. Missiles were fired at them from the ground, Beck said.
It wasn't until a couple of years ago, when crew members became reacquainted over the Internet and telephone, that Beck realized the others in the crew had received the Air Medal and Cairl the Distinguished Flying Cross. Beck then pursued getting the medal, culminating in today's ceremony.
Beck worked at Republic Steel Corp. in Canton for a short while after leaving the Air Force and retired seven years ago after 32 years at American Electric Power in Canton.