U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers honored with Silver Star at Pentagon

U.S. Air Force Pilot Captain Francis Gary Powers is pictured before his U-2 spy plane on June 1, 1959. While flying a joint Air Force-CIA mission, Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union and held for nearly two years. / AP Photo

(CBS News) Capt. Francis Gary Powers, the Air Force pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, was posthumously honored Friday in a medal ceremony at the Pentagon.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz presented the Silver Star Medal to Capt. Powers' children, Gary Powers Jr. and Dee Powers, in the Hall of Heroes, in tribute to Powers' "heroic action and his loyalty to the United States of America during a pivotal time in our nation's history."

"My sister, myself, my wife, my son, aunts and uncles, cousins, the Powers family is deeply grateful and deeply appreciative for the awarding of the Silver Star to my father," said Gary Powers Jr. "It goes to show that it's never too late to set the record straight."

18 Photos

U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers

Powers, whose reconnaissance plane was shot down over the U.S.S.R. on May 1, 1960, was honored for demonstrating "exceptional loyalty" while enduring harsh interrogation in a Russian prison for nearly two years.

After taking off from Pakistan and flying at an altitude of 70,000 feet, Powers was more than 1,200 miles inside the Soviet Union's border when he was shot down by surface-to-air missiles.

He parachuted safely to the ground and was captured by Soviet troops. The plane's camera and film was also captured - a propaganda boon for Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev.

Under intense interrogation, Powers was threatened with death and suffered sleep and food deprivation. He was eventually tried in Moscow.

U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers (right) sits in the dock in a Moscow court, August 17, 1960, at the opening of his espionage trial. At left is his defense counsel, Mikhail Griniev.

/ AP Photo

"Captain Powers steadfastly refused all attempts to give sensitive defense information or be exploited for propaganda purposes," the medal citation reads.

In August 1960 Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to three years in prison and seven years in a prison colony.

After 21 months in prison Powers was exchanged was turned over to U.S. officials in Berlin in 1962, exchanged in a prisoner swap for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

After returning to the U.S., Powers was exonerated by a CIA board of inquiry, and he was awarded an Intelligence Star.

But many criticized him for not destroying the plane and its sensitive surveillance instruments - and for allowing himself to be taken alive.

Powers' daughter, Dee, that the trauma of her father's detention and show trial was exacerbated by a teacher in third grade, who voiced the sentiment of many over the pilot's capture: "A teacher told me my father should have killed himself," she told CBS Radio's Howard Arenstein.

Powers later worked as a test pilot at Lockheed and wrote a 1970 memoir, "Operation Overflight." A TV-movie was made in 1976 about the U-2 incident starring Lee Majors.

Powers died in 1977 when the helicopter he was piloting for KNBC crashed in Los Angeles.

Documents declassified in the 1990s revealed that the U-2 spy flight had been a joint operation of the CIA and the Air Force, making him eligible for military honors. Powers was awarded a posthumous POW medal - and now, the Silver Star.

[ludvig1-2009]

He was one of those hated federal employees that the Repuglican party and tea party loves to deride to gain political points, a GS-12 civilian pilot for the CIA. Since 1992 a total of 2,956 federal workers have died in the line of duty, with the overwhelming majority of them being in Iraq and Afghanistan. What have the Repuglicans done to honor them. Well twice in the last month or so the Repuglican members of the House voted to get money from federal employees and retirees to fund student loans and to keep the military budget from taking a 10% cut. But, being a federal retiree, a former GS-12 Nuclear Engineer and 14 gallon blood donor, I constantly read about how the American people detest Federal workers. I told my engineer son to go get a job in the private sector so he wouldn't have to deal with those hate mongers. He started at $70,000 a year, $10K more than I made at my highest pay. Where is he getting the money? The Federal government finances 100% of this contractor's jobs. Yeah he's a contract employee and no one complains about them. It's only the Federal workers like Gary Powers who should have taken their own life. America should be ashamed of it's attitude toward Federal workers, just as Joe McCarthy should be ashamed of his witch hunt.

[rwsmith29456]

"But many criticized him for not destroying the plane and its sensitive surveillance instruments - and for allowing himself to be taken alive." What would they do in his place??

[KansasCity-2012]

At the time of the Cold War, we became a nation that threw away people, human life and expended them without much gratitude. Today, we demand far more and don't let acts of courage go under-appreciated.

The most interesting thing today is how many want to revert back to those days and use Cold War mentality in decision and policy making.

When a senior leader of that generation passes away, I ponder what kind of leader replaces them and ask, "Will their regard for human life, truth be any different, or will it be allowed to become a casualty of wars or armed conflicts designed for short term goals?"

We are stuck with terrifying realities that self-destruction has never been easier to attain in this present climate of traditional conservative paranoia.

I am glad the award was presented to Gary Powers. We did the job his leaders never started or never finished. They were too busy creating a military industrial complex of guarantees that we still haven't paid for...or can't seem to reverse. Military monopoly comes at a high price and still can't guarantee anything.

[Vince53]

Heroes like Gary Powers risked their lives to prevent a surprise nuclear attack on the US. He was a great man who was honored far too late for his sacrifices for people like us.

[nohater]

kind of silly to award someone a silver star for an act that happened in the 60s. the man died in 77 so why wasn't he given the medal while still alive?

[John782011]

One true Mr Oswald had no access to the informtion like the U-2 program

[onetruecommunist]

iirc he was a radar operator in japan where some of these flights originated. so who better to know the altitudes they were flying? of course we will never know thanks to the massive cover up...

[onetruecommunist]

@nadelio are you saying he wasnt a radar operator with a security clearance in atsugi japan? are you also saying that u2 flights didnt originate from there? you sir need to check your sources...

[canislupus16]

freeamerica, you probably weren't around in 1960, but even as a 12-year-old this was a big deal. It was in the news for months, years. The Cold War was in high gear as the U.S. and U.S.S.R. played a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Anybody alive back then (with half a brain, and halfway tuned in to world events then and today), today recognizes the name Gary Powers. I'm glad he was honored, even posthumously, and glad for his family.

You suggest leaving history to history (I think we need to know and think about history). This makes that piece of history more complete.

[opedanderson2]

I remember watching the movie with Lee Majors and being shocked over how cruel his captors were depriving him of sleep and food. It's sad to think that we have become those kinds of captors now.....

[onetruecommunist]

guess what other american was in the ussr at the time. it has been suggested that he could have given the soviets enough info on these flights so they could reach one.

Lee Harvey Oswald

[freeamerica31]

Are you kidding me! This happened over 50 yrs ago. You can't find any good in the current military so you have to give an award to a guy from over 50 yrs ago.

How about living in the present and leave the history to history.