Richard "Dick" Bong grew up watching mailplanes fly over his Wisconsin farm and decided, at age eight, that he would be a pilot. He soloed on his twentieth birthday, earned his wings in January 1942, and shipped to the Pacific. Flying P-38 Lightnings with the 49th Fighter Group, Bong claimed his first two victories over Buna on 27 December 1942. He favored head-on attacks and closing to point-blank range—"put the gun muzzles in the Jap's cockpit," he said. On 12 April 1944, he surpassed Eddie Rickenbacker's American record of 26 kills. General Douglas MacArthur presented his Medal of Honor in December 1944—recommended by General George Kenney, who then grounded him for his own safety at 40 victories. Six months later, Bong died test-flying a Lockheed P-80 jet on the same day the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.