Congressional Medal of Honor Proposed for Korean Fighter Pilot

On June 17th, the House of Representatives passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

The Senate Armed Services Committee also passed its version and it will advance to a full Senate vote. After Senate confirmation of its version, the two chambers will reconcile the versions in a conference committee.

One notable difference between the two versions is that the House bill allots an almost 20% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and 4.5% for all others while the Senate version authorizes just 4.5% for all military service members and 2% for civilian DoD employees.

Two key provisions in the House bill were authored by California Congressman Darrell Issa. One of them authorizes the Congressional Medal of Honor to be awarded to Korean War fighter pilot Navy Captain (Ret.) E. Royce Williams for his actions during a dogfight with Soviet-piloted MiG-15s in 1952.

The story of his dogfight is the stuff of legends. As a then-Lieutenant flying a Grumman F9F Panther off the carrier Oriskany (CVA 34) during a combat air patrol near the Yalu River, despite being ordered to return, he became engaged with seven MiG-15s in a dogfight that went on for 35 minutes, the longest in Naval history. He somehow managed to down or disable at least four of them but was able to return to the carrier in his severely damaged airplane with 263 holes in it and only elevator control.

Upon his return he was debriefed by admirals, the Secretary of Defense and even President Dwight D. Eisenhower and it turned out that unbeknownst to him, he was fighting against MiG pilots of the Soviet Union, who were not officially a combatant so he was sworn to secrecy to avoid provoking a wider conflict. Years later after the war records were declassified it turns out that he had in fact shot down at least 4 of the MiGs and in 2023 was awarded the Navy Cross as an upgrade of the Silver Star he received in 1953.

Despite the major problem of the dogfight not being included in official war records, years of campaigning since 2014 by numerous Naval officers and members of Congress bring hope that Rep. Issa’s provision will remain in the final approved NDAA to authorize the Medal of Honor for E. Royce Williams.

FMI: http://issa.house.gov/