Early life and military career Royce Williams grew up in Wilmot, South Dakota.[2] He and his brother both aspired to fly, and both enlisted after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. Williams remained in the Navy while attending college in Minnesota, and qualified as a United States Naval Aviator at Pensacola in August 1945.[4] He learned to fly the F9F-5 Panther jet and was assigned to active duty in the Korean War, where he flew 110 missions.[3] A VF-781 F9F lands on the USS Oriskany in November 1952 In 1952 then-Lieutenant Williams was serving with VF-781 aboard the USS Oriskany as part of Task Force 77. On 18 November 1952, on his second mission of the day, while on combat air patrol near Hoeryong, North Korea, his group of four pilots spotted seven MiG-15s overhead. The other three pilots had to return to the carrier and the MiGs began to fire on Williams, putting him into a one-man dogfight with seven MiG-15s that lasted 35 minutes.[5] It is believed to be the longest dogfight in U.S. Navy history.[3] He shot down four of the MiGs and likely hit two others.[6] By the end of the 35 minutes only one of the MiGs was still in the air with him, and he managed to escape back to his carrier, out of ammunition and having lost his hydraulics. He was uninjured, but 263 holes were counted in his Panther jet. He never saw the plane again; reportedly it was pushed into the sea.[5] The story of his battle with the Soviet-piloted MiGs was covered up by the U.S. government, because at that time the Soviet Union was not officially a combatant in the Korean War and it was feared that the story of the air battle would draw the Soviets further into the conflict. The dogfight was scrubbed from U.S. Navy and National Security Agency records, and Williams was sworn to secrecy about the incident—so much so that he never told anyone about it, even his wife or his pilot brother, until the Korean War records were declassified in the early 2000s.[3] The record of the incident in Navy records says only that he shot down one plane and damaged another, for which he was awarded the Silver Star in 1953.[7] However, the dogfight on that date pitting seven MiGs against one American fighter was recorded in Soviet archives, which were released after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The Soviet records confirmed that of the seven MiGs, only one returned to its base.[6] A 2014 Russian book, Red Devils over the Yalu: A Chronicle of Soviet Aerial Operations in the Korean War 1950–53, reported the battle and named Williams.[8] In his book Holding the Line about Task Force 77, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver described the fight, saying "On November 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator and the top-scoring naval aviator in a Navy jet of the 'forgotten war'." He added, "In the fight of his life, Royce Williams had accomplished what no other American fighter pilot would ever accomplish: shoot down four MiG-15s in one fight."[4] Williams was captain of the command ship USS Eldorado between September 1969 and January 1971.[1] He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1980. In retirement he lives in Escondido, California.[6] His medals include the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Legion of Merit with Combat "V".[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royce_Williams
I was just confused on why this was here. Is there controversy on him getting the medal? Honestly, again with my fear, I thought somehow, this was Lanny, TBH.
Sorry, could have asked better instead of the question marks. Thanks for sharing about another great person in american history, even if it isnt lanny
