A long overdue reward for what he did, that was classified for over 50 years!
Naval aviator Capt. Royce Williams, 100, is set to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his 1952 actions during the Korean War, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., announced on Wednesday.
Issa has played a significant role in Williams’ recognition, introducing the “Valor Has No Expiration Act” in 2025 to extend and expand upon the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act. Introduced last June, the act was instrumental in highlighting Williams’ Korean War record.
Full article, HERE from Military Times. And the rest of the story, HERE.
This is just one story of many that has been buried by classification for many years…
There are other stories out there, as poignant, as horrific, and as normal as any, but where/when/how they happened meant they were ‘shielded’ behind classification. Usually that meant 50 year classification.
I, for one, am happy to see the good captain get recognition while he was still alive. The ‘biggest’ reason his battle was classified was he was shooting down Russian pilots, not North Koreans in an F9F-5 Panther, which was considered inferior to the Mig-15s he shot down!
Bravo Zulu, Captain Williams!
From Wikipedia, which apparently was quickly updated. Exciting!
On 18 November 1952, the American aircraft carrier USS Oriskany and three other carriers were operating in the Sea of Japan conducting air strikes against the North Korean city of Hoeryong. The group launched four F9F’s for a combat patrol near the North Korean border with China. The group’s leader suffered mechanical problems and returned to the carrier together with his wingman. Lt Royce Williams of VF-781, flying off USS Oriskany and his wingman continued on the mission. They then identified seven Soviet Naval Aviation MiGs heading towards the task force from the Russian mainland. The naval commanders therefore ordered the two F9Fs to position themselves between the MiGs and the carrier group.[23][24]
During this maneuver, four Soviet MiG-15s opened fire, despite the fact that the countries were not at war. Williams opened fire on the tail MiG, which dropped out of formation, and was followed down by Williams’s wingman. What followed was a 35-minute dogfight between Williams and six MiG-15s. The MiG-15 was a more capable plane, but Williams nevertheless succeeded in shooting down three more. He ascribed this to both sides doing as they were trained, but the Soviet pilots making mistakes. While heading back to the carriers, Williams was out of ammo, but still had one MiG on his tail. The re-appearance of his wingman on the MiG’s tail then scared this one off. By that time Williams’s plane was so damaged that he could not turn sideways anymore. Oriskany was therefore aligned with the plane, so he could land. After landing, his Panther was found to have 263 hits by cannon shells or fragments and was beyond repair. It was therefore pushed overboard.[23][24]
Ooffff. Watch a half-hour TV show and realize that for more than that time a dogfight continued. Mind blowing.
Hey Old NFO,
I remember reading about this and a few others where the Americans “tangled” with the Soviet “advisors” and the Soviets came out 2nd best and the state dept fearing embarrassing Stalin and the peace talks had the dogfights buried under classifications so it wouldn’t be leaked. I personally considered it crappy, but it was “realpolitik” as they say. I as well you know that 50 and 75 year “Non Disclosure” is a cast iron if you know what I mean.
I’m betting that the Captain will still clang as he walks up to receive his medal. Great big brass ones! Salute!
It’s a great story, all the better that it’s true. It is not, IMHO, worthy of the MoH. Fighting and winning against the odds (they started out 4 against 7) is something the average infantry veteran is familiar with, after all. I guess we still love our knights in shining armor, going forth to do battle upon their noble steeds.
Keeping the secret for 50 years, on the other hand, is a monument to this man’s heroic will, and worthy of recognition in its own right.
This story made my day. What an amazing man!!
All- Thanks, and whether or not he deserved it is not up to us… But he is at least still alive to ‘get’ the recognition he should have had 74 years ago!
I’m just glad he’s alive to receive this. So many died before their actions were officially recognized.
George H.W. Bush was POTUS in December of 1991 when the former Soviet Union fell. This would have been an appropriate time to declassify the information surrounding this situation, in order that Royce Williams could be properly honored for his historic dogfight.
Unfortunately, Bush had been the Director of Central Intelligence so his mindset was probably that of “Leave classified information classified.”
I approve of this move to declassify information regarding heroic and valorous deeds, particularly when it was against an entity that no longer exists. There is no need to protect the reputation of political ghosts.
What a great result.
Dan- Very true!!!
Ag- Depends on your point of view, I’ll just leave it at that. Also, it hadn’t been 50 years yet…
The Soviets made mistakes.
He apparently made none.