Out-gunned and out-manned, one Navy air pilot was awarded the Navy Cross—its second highest military honor—at a ceremony on Jan. 20, roughly 70 years after he single-handedly shot down four Soviet fighter jets that ambushed him in a battle that he has been forbidden to discuss, per White House orders, for more than 50 years.
Receiving the honor was 97-year-old Royce Williams, of Escondido, California, and the 35-minute air battle is one of the longest recorded in naval air history, according to declassified government records.
“Your grit and bravery are simply astounding,” Cruise said in the video posted on the same day Williams received the honor. “You are a true American hero, and I offer you my most sincere thanks and congratulations to you, sir.”
Others congratulating Williams included Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who authored legislation last year to push for Williams to receive the Navy Medal of Honor, which didn’t gain sufficient traction.
“It is, to this day, the most unique U.S.–Soviet aerial combat dogfight in the history of the Cold War,” Issa said during the ceremony honoring Williams at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. “It is my honor to have fought for Royce to gain a recognition that he has not sought but so richly deserves.”
The Secret Air Battle
Williams was on air patrol over the Yalu River, near the North Korean border, with three other squadron mates on Nov. 18, 1952, when seven Soviet MiG-15s—the most advanced fighter jets of the time—came out of nowhere, Williams told The Epoch Times last year.His plane—a single-seat F9F Panther fighter aircraft—was significantly out-gunned by the Soviet aircraft due to its “much lower fighting capability and speed,” he said.
Through a series of defensive air maneuvers, Williams said he was able to avoid being shot down while simultaneously exploiting mistakes made by the Soviet pilots, ultimately shooting down four of seven aircraft swarming his plane.
Out of ammunition and with his own plane riddled with more than 250 bullets—including a critical hit to his fuselage that nearly killed him—Williams retreated to his carrier ducking in and out of cloud cover to avoid one last enemy plane trying to shoot him down.
Williams, who retired from the Navy as a captain in the mid-1970s, recalled near immediate orders from the Eisenhower administration swearing him to secrecy regarding the incident amid Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
“If word got out that the Russians engaged [the United States] during the Korean War, it would’ve been World War III,” friend and fellow veteran Steve Lewandowski told The Epoch Times last year.
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