in january 1942 russ baker rescued the crews of three b-26 bombers that had made an emergency landing between fort nelson, british columbia and watson lake, yukon where there was a refueling station. the mishap occurred the 16th of january, and russ eventually located the planes and crews. to an improvised runway he flew a dozen missions over several days to extract 24 crewmen and two officers. the norden bombsights were recovered from the downed aircraft. he was recommended by lt. robert o. cork for the air medal which russ was awarded march 22, 1948, in vancouver by the u.s. consul george d. andrews.