A Cold War veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Roy Shoffner set his sights on raising a Lockheed P-38 Lightening from beneath Greenland's ice cap and restoring her to flight. Eleven previous expeditions failed to reach "The Lost Squadron," six P-38s that crash-landed in Greenland in 1942 on their way to WW II Europe. The crews were saved, but 50 years of weather buried the planes under 268 feet of ice.

Shoffner's team raised her in July 1990, melting shafts in the ice and using hot water to hollow out workspace around the plane. They dismantled "Glacier Girl" in this ice cave and hoisted her up in pieces. After ten years of work, the P-38 has been fully restored in Middlesboro under the supervision of Project Manager Bob Cardin. The plane is expected to fly this October.

Mr. Shoffner was presented by his wife Eddie Lou, a golfer and avid rose-grower who served as cook at the Greenland site and is the only female ever to descend into a glacier. Mr. Shoffner accepted his medallion in person.

Roy Shoffner was born in Harrogate, Tenn., and spent his youth in Middlesboro, Ky. He joined the Air Force and flew the F-89 Scorpion during the Cold War. He left the service in 1971 and became a successful businessman in and around Middlesboro.