Cannon officer receives Distinguished Flying Cross

CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) — An Air Force officer assigned to a special operations unit at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico is being honored for his actions while under enemy gunfire in the African nation of Djibouti (jih-BOO'-tee) in 2013. Base officials planned Monday to present the Distinguished Flying Cross to Maj. William J. Mendel. Mendel is now assigned to the 20th Special Operations Wing at Cannon but was a captain and an aircraft commander in the 8th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron in late 2013. Cannon officials did not respond to a request for details of how Mendel earned the decoration but a statement announcing the ceremony cited "his quick-thinking actions under heavy enemy gunfire." Mendel flies the C-22 Osprey, an aircraft that can fly like a plane and land like a helicopter.