Major Pierce Winningham McKinnon is deceased. Accepting his medallion tonight is Wayne Haver. Major McKinnon's awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with four oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal with 16 oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Croix de Guerre.

Mac McKinnon was born on November 30, 1919, in Clarksville, AR. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the US Army Air Forces on February 10, 1941, but washed out of flight training two months later and was discharged from the Army Air Forces. McKinnon then went to Canada and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on May 9, 1941, and again attended flight training, earning his pilot wings on December 14, 1941. Sergeant McKinnon deployed to England in January 1942 and trained with Number 61 Operational Training Unit and with an Eagle Squadron flying Spitfires before resigning his commission with the Royal Canadian Air Force on November 23, 1942.

He was then commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the US Army Air Forces on November 25, 1942, and he joined the 335th Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Group in England, flying Spitfires, P-47 Thunderbolts, and later P-51 Mustangs in February of 1943. The flying ace destroyed 20 German aircraft: 11 enemy aircraft in aerial combat and 9 destroyed on the ground while strafing enemy airfields between July 1943 and April 1945. During this time, he was shot down by flak on two different occasions and made it back to friendly lines.

After the war in Europe ended, Major McKinnon joined the 368th Fighter Group on occupation duty in Germany until he returned to the United States in May 1946. His next assignment was as an instructor pilot at Williams Field, Arizona, and then at Randolph Field, Texas, where he was killed in a flight training accident on June 18, 1947. Major McKinnon is buried at the Forest Park Cemetery in Fort Smith, AR.