A real-life “Top Gun” 10 years before Tom Cruise was even born was Royce Williams. Williams shot down four Soviet fighter jets on a chilly November day in 1952, becoming a legend that would go unrecognised for more than 50 years.
The Navy Cross, the second-highest military decoration bestowed by the service, was given to the now 97-year-old former navy aviator during a ceremony held on Friday in California.
Williams’ case “stood out above all others” among the numerous recommendations he had to increase servicemen’ awards, according to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro on Friday. To me, it was abundantly evident that his acts met the requirements for a higher medal and were genuinely outstanding.
Del Toro observed, “Freedom does not come cheap.” “It results from the sacrifice of everyone who has served in the military today and who is still doing so. You were kept free that day by what you did. In Task Force 77, they left your shipmates unharmed. They did, in fact, keep us all free.
Here are the things Williams accomplished to merit that distinction.
Williams was commanding the US Navy’s first jet aircraft, the F9F Panther, on a mission on November 18, 1952, during the Korean War.
He launched from the USS Oriskany, an aircraft carrier that was part of a task group of four carriers operating in the Sea of Japan, commonly known as the East Sea, 100 miles off the coast of North Korea.
Williams, who was 27 at the time, along with three other fighter pilots, were instructed to conduct a combat air patrol over the Korean Peninsula’s most northern region, close to the Yalu River, which divides North Korea from China. Russia, which was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and aided North Korea in the fight, is located to the northeast.
The leader of the group experienced technical difficulties during the patrol by the four US Navy jets, so he turned around and returned to the task force offshore.
Williams and his wingman were now the only two on the expedition.
They were shocked to see seven Soviet MiG-15 fighters approaching the US task force at that point.
Williams stated in a 2021 interview with the American Veterans Center, “They just didn’t come out of Russia and contact us in any way before.”
The task force’s wary commanders gave the two US Navy jets the order to position themselves between the MiGs and the US cruisers.
Williams reported that as they were doing this, four of the Soviet MiGs wheeled and started firing at them.
He claimed that after firing on the tail MiG, the Soviet jet plummeted out of the four-plane formation, with Williams’ wingman falling after it.
He said that at that point, US officers on the carrier gave him the order not to engage the Soviets.
In the interview, Williams remembered, “I said, ‘I am engaged.
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