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  1. #1
    Soon to be Memphibian

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    One hell of an American passed earlier this year:

    Quote Originally Posted by Anchorage Daily News
    BETH BRAGG

    Super-sized heroes of Pearl Harbor defense merit Medal of Honor

    BETH BRAGG
    COMMENT

    Published: December 22, 2006
    Last Modified: December 22, 2006 at 02:01 AM


    Ken Taylor died 12 days before the 65th anniversary of the day of infamy that made him famous.


    Reports of his death last month dutifully identified the Anchorage man as a Pearl Harbor hero, one of the first and only U.S. pilots to get airborne and confront the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Hollywood cemented his fame in the movies "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Pearl Harbor."

    Taylor was just 22 on the day the United States was thrust into World War II. A recently commissioned officer known for his fun-loving ways, he'd been in bed for about five hours when the Sunday morning assault began about 8 a.m. While scrambling to get dressed, he grabbed the first thing he saw -- the tuxedo pants he'd worn partying the previous night.

    He shot down at least two enemy aircraft, maybe four -- accounts vary, which is to be expected given the chaos that followed the attack. He and squadron mate George Welch, who had four confirmed kills, were proclaimed the nation's first World War II heroes and received the Distinguished Service Cross six days later.

    And that is why Taylor's story continues beyond his death.

    The Distinguished Service Cross is a glorious honor, the second-highest decoration awarded by the Army. It recognizes beyond-the-call-of-duty bravery and life-risking behavior. Fewer than 15,000 have been awarded.

    The only greater accolade is the Medal of Honor, given by Congress to "the bravest of the brave." Fewer than 3,500 have been awarded. Winning one requires super-sized gallantry.

    Taylor and Welch were super-sized heroes on Pearl Harbor Day, pilots who took to the air and took on the enemy without waiting for orders. They were the lone Americans in a sea of Japanese aircraft.

    They ran out of ammunition before they ran out of guts. So they landed, reloaded and rumbled back into action -- this time despite orders not to.

    At one point, Taylor found himself in the middle of a Japanese formation. He was shot in the arm and shrapnel pierced his leg, ripping holes in the tuxedo pants. He kept fighting.

    In an exhaustively researched article in "Air Power History," Lt. Col. George Farfour credits Taylor and Welch with preventing a planned assault on Haleiwa, a training and air base on Oahu. They "almost certainly" saved the "airfield, its aircraft and personnel from further attack and destruction," Farfour wrote.

    In an interview, Farfour said Taylor and Welch deserve to have their Distinguished Service Crosses upgraded to Medals of Honor.

    "What (they) did in the face of seemingly unsurmountable odds epitomizes the American spirit," he said.

    John Mark Meek, a friend of Taylor and a military history buff from Tucson, Ariz., has made it his personal mission to get the upgrades. He maintains a Web site (www.pearlharborhero.net) that makes the case that Taylor, a career Army man who would have turned 87 tomorrow, and Welch, who became a test pilot and was killed in a 1954 crash, meet the criteria for a Medal of Honor.

    A key requirement is finding witnesses -- people who saw Taylor and Welch bring down enemy planes. Meek, who has traveled to Hawaii to meet with Pearl Harbor survivors and has been in written communication with many others, has been stymied in that effort.

    "I discovered there were a lot of these guys still alive," Meek said. "However, they were all across the island from where Ken and George were shooting down planes."

    Their actions are documented in their Distinguished Service Cross citations, though. And Meek has recently tweaked the interest of two Arizona lawmakers, Sen. John McCain and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

    Given that Taylor was commander of the Alaska Air National Guard before his retirement as a brigadier general, maybe Sen. Ted Stevens -- who called Taylor a friend and fishing buddy -- can be persuaded to join the cause too.

    It's a worthy one.

    Sixty-five years ago this month, Taylor and Welch were awakened by the sound of exploding bombs. They pulled on their pants, dashed to Taylor's car, drove 10 miles to an airstrip amid gunfire from above, climbed into a pair of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks and went to war -- an Army of two.

    Sounds like a dictionary definition of bravest of the brave.
    Good man.
    "The choices we discern as having been made in the Constitutional Convention impose burdens on governmental proceses that often seem clumsy, inefficient, even unworkable, but those hard choices were consciously made by men who had lived under a form of government that permitted arbitrary governmental acts to go unchecked." INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) (Burger, C.J.)

  2. #2
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member Sooner_Havok's Avatar
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    Re: One hell of an American passed earlier this year:

    word
    If I am right, then religious fundamentalists will not go to Heaven, because there is no Heaven. If THEY are right, then they will not go to Heaven, because they are hypocrites.


    -Isaac Asimov

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