Captain Williams’s “Suicide Mission”
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams’s Korean War feat – shooting down four Soviet fighter jets, making him a candidate for the nation’s highest military award – was a “suicide mission.”
“As a former Navy fighter pilot, I regard Capt. Williams’s victory off of the coast of Korea as one of the most spectacular in the history of military aviation,” retired Rear Adm. Russ Penniman told SD Metro Magazine. “Contemporaries would consider a fight of one against seven – with your adversaries flying superior aircraft – to be a suicide mission.”
Williams, credited with shooting down four Soviet Union MIG-15 fighter jets on Nov. 18, 1952, was a fighter pilot aboard the U.S.S. Oriskany while it patrolled the Sea of Japan.
After flying that morning, Williams and three other fighter pilots were ordered to fly another combat patrol. After becoming airborne, they learned unknown aircraft were fast approaching, soon discovering they were Soviet MIGs. Upon seeing the Navy planes, the Soviets started shooting.
Due to engine problems, two planes in Williams’s squadron left, leaving him and his wingman to take on the seven MIGs, considered, at the time, superior to their aircraft, Grumman F9F-2 Panthers.
After shooting at one MIG, Williams’s wingman followed the plane to the ocean, leaving him to take on the remaining six MIGs by himself.
“Royce entered the fight without hesitation and remained engaged for over 30 minutes, until he’d exhausted all of his ammunition and his aircraft had been severely damaged,” Admiral Penniman said. “Only one of seven Soviet airplanes would return home.
“Whether the other two ran out of fuel or couldn’t make it back because they were damaged by Royce is unknown,” he added.
Because the United States wasn’t officially at war with the Soviet Union, he was ordered to keep the dogfight confidential. Even President-elect Dwight Eisenhower, while following up his 1952 campaign promise to visit Korea, explained the issue’s sensitivity to Williams.
He was initially awarded the Silver Star for the exploit. But in January, after a prior visit with Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, when they discussed the dogfight, he was awarded the Navy’s highest medal for valor, the Navy Cross.
Steve Lewandowski is leading Operation Just Reward, which seeks to have Williams awarded the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military award for valor. He’s working with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and is optimistic the Senate and the House of Representatives will approve it.
“Royce Williams is 98 years young, a Top Gun pilot like no other and an American hero for all time,” said Issa. “That’s why we won’t stop until Royce receives the recognition he has never sought but so richly deserves.
“It is long past time for the Congress to have a real say on who receives the Congressional Medal of Honor, and I can’t think of a more deserving recipient,” he added.