Via The Divine Sarah (posting at Insty), I see this little treasure:
More than 70 years after he took part in the longest dogfight in Navy history, scoring four aerial victories, Royce Williams might finally get the Medal of Honor.
Over the weekend, Congress released the text for the compromise National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill outlining spending plans and goals. This year, it is a record $901 billion. Nestled into the large defense appropriations bill is Sec. 591, which would upgrade Williams’ Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor for “acts of valor during the Korean War.”
Those acts involve taking on seven Soviet MiG-15s in a 35-minute dogfight almost singlehandedly, in a battle that was kept under wraps for years despite Williams’ achievements.
Read the whole article to get the full delicious flavor of the thing.
Yes, Royce Williams is a true American hero and yes, he deserves the MoH, bigly.
What impressed me almost as much was the fighter jet he flew at the time, the Grumman F9F-5 Panther:
If there’s a nicer-looking aircraft than that baby, I haven’t seen it yet. Sleek, torpedo-like yet compact… be still, my beating heart.
That Royce Williams overcame a whole bunch of supposedly more-advanced Commie MiG-15s in that beauty should come as no surprise, especially as the MiGs were pig-ugly in the way that only Commie-built things can look. (No pic, I don’t want to spoil this post.)
Let’s honor Royce Williams’s heroism, and let’s appreciate the gorgeous aircraft he performed it in.