Medal of Honor Monday: Army Air Forces Maj. Ralph Cheli

Army Air Forces Maj. Ralph Cheli, a bomber pilot, was posthumously presented with the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry during World War II.

Cheli was born to Robert Alfred Cheli, an Italian immigrant, and Julia Cheli, Oct. 29, 1919, in San Francisco. He was an only child.

He dropped out of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to enlist as a flying cadet in the Army Air Corps in early 1940. He trained at Randolph Field and Kelly Field, both in Texas. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in November 1940. 

He married Geraldine Reilly, and they had a son, Ralph Cheli Jr. 

Following his tour at Kelly Field, he flew B-17 Flying Fortress bombers for the 21st Reconnaissance Squadron at MacDill Field, Florida. He then attended chemical warfare school at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.  

Following his promotion to first lieutenant in February 1942, Cheli joined the 43rd Bombardment Squadron and flew B-17s on reconnaissance and antisubmarine patrols in the Caribbean. 

In June 1942, he joined the 405th Bombardment Squadron at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. In August 1942, he flew from Hamilton Field, California, to Breddan Aerodrome in Queensland, Australia, in a B-25 Mitchell bomber and in October 1942, he flew to Durand Airfield in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he took command of the 405th Bombardment Squadron, 38th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force. 

He was promoted to major in February 1943, making him one of the youngest commanders in the Army Air Forces. 

Cheli led 39 combat missions during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943, attacking Japanese shipping. These missions earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.

On Aug. 18, 1943, while he was flying a B-25D-1 Mitchell bomber near Wewak, Papua New Guinea, and leading the 405th in an attack of the heavily defended Dagua Airfield, he was intercepted by enemy aircraft. They centered their fire on his plane, causing it to burst into flames while still 2 miles from the objective. 

His speed would have enabled him to gain the necessary altitude to parachute to safety, but this action would have left his formation disorganized and exposed to the enemy.  

Although a crash was inevitable, he courageously elected to continue leading the attack in his blazing plane, an action that led to him posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor. From a minimum altitude, the squadron made a devastating bombing and strafing attack on the target. With the mission completed, Cheli instructed his wingman to lead the formation and then crashed his bomber into the sea. 

After impact, Cheli and the surviving crew members were captured by the Japanese and held at Rabaul, a town on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, and later at Tunnel Hill Prisoner of War Camp. Records indicate he was treated harshly and beaten for refusing to provide any information beyond his name, rank, service number and birth date. 

Cheli and other POWs were executed in the Tunnel Hill Massacre, March 6, 1944, and buried in a mass grave. The Japanese falsely claimed the POW deaths were caused by Allied bombings. After the war, investigators found mass graves using confessions of those who had committed the war crimes. 

His probable remains and those of other executed POWs were transferred to the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, and buried together, March 21, 1950. Beneath the group grave marker at the burial site is a dedicated marker commemorating Cheli with a gold inlay of the Medal of Honor and an inscription with his name, rank and date of death. 

“I wish he had gone down with the plane, unfortunately,” said his great niece, Janet Bizjak, in a 2020 interview with The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

His widow was presented the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Oct. 28, 1943. Cheli was also posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal. 

Cheli Air Force Station in Los Angeles was named for him in 1947, and was closed in 1961. Also, the Cheli School Age Care on Misawa Air Base, Japan, bears his name. 

In 1968, a painting of him was unveiled in a ceremony and hung in Grace Hall at Lehigh University. The chapter of the Arnold Air Society at Lehigh was named in his honor.

This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.