Howard approached that boundary and still returned.
THE MEDAL OF HONOR RECOGNIZED THAT JUDGMENT
The citation praises gallantry and intrepidity, but the action it describes is fundamentally a sequence of judgments under deteriorating conditions.
Return to the bombers or find the squadron.
Attack this fighter or that one.
Follow a damaged aircraft or break back to the Fortresses.
Continue with one gun or leave.
Bluff or disengage.
Stay another minute or save fuel for home.
Howard made those decisions while aircraft moved around him at hundreds of miles per hour.
The medal recognized the courage required to keep choosing the more dangerous option when the bombers still needed him.
THE STORY'S LAST IMAGE IS NOT A KILL
It is easy to end the story with a burning German fighter because destruction creates a clean climax.
The more revealing image comes later.
Howard's Mustang has three silent guns. The ammunition that remains is of little practical value. The fuel gauge has become a threat. German aircraft are still near the bombers.
Howard turns toward them anyway.
He cannot be certain the German crews will break.
They cannot be certain he cannot fire.
The Mustang dives.
The German aircraft moves away.
The B-17 formation continues west.
That is the essence of the thirty-minute defense.
Not one man destroying thirty aircraft.
One man repeatedly convincing more than thirty aircraft that attacking the bombers would cost more than they expected.
ON JANUARY 11, 1944, JAMES HOWARD DID NOT WIN THE AIR WAR OVER GERMANY
He did something smaller and, for the men of the 401st, more immediate.
He stayed.
He stayed when his squadron was no longer beside him.
He stayed after the first victory gave him every reason to rejoin friendly fighters.
He stayed while German fighters continued attacking.
He stayed when three guns stopped working.
He stayed when ammunition became effectively exhausted.
He stayed as the fuel margin he needed for England disappeared.
Then, when the immediate threat finally weakened, he turned west and brought the Mustang home.
Months later, the Medal of Honor citation would describe the action in official language. Newspapers would call him a one-man air force. Bomber crews would remember the P-51 moving across their formation again and again. The 354th Fighter Group would become part of the larger story of how the Mustang changed long-range escort.
But inside the cockpit, the decision had been simpler.
There were bombers in front of him.
There were German fighters attacking them.
No other friendly fighters were immediately there.
Howard could go looking for help, or he could become the help.
He chose the second option.
For about thirty minutes over central Germany, one Mustang became the only visible barrier between a group of American bombers and a mass of Luftwaffe fighters.
The barrier weakened. Three guns failed. Ammunition disappeared. Fuel fell toward the point where the return flight itself became uncertain.
Howard kept turning back toward the bombers until the Germans finally stopped coming.
That, more than the four credited victories, is why January 11, 1944 became the mission for which James H. Howard received the Medal of Honor.