Two of the American pilots, James McGovern Jr., and Wallace Buford, were killed in action during the siege of Điện Biên Phủ. On 25 February 2005, the seven still-living American pilots were awarded the French Legion of Honor by Jean-David Levitte, the French Ambassador to the United States. The role that the American pilots played in this battle had remained little known until 2004. The US historian Erik Kirsinger researched the case for more than a year to establish the facts.