Korean War Veteran to Receive Medal of Honor for Secret Battle with Russians

It was a dogfight for the ages that saved countless troops, yet Navy pilot Royce Williams kept it secret for more than 60 years. On Wednesday, it was announced that Williams will receive the Medal of Honor. 

Williams, 100, a Korean War fighter pilot, survived insurmountable odds, fending off seven Soviet MiG jets in November 1952. Williams bravely shot down four of the fighters while his aircraft sustained heavy damage from gunfire. His Panther jet was pocked with 263 bullet holes. 

It was the longest 35 minutes of his life. 

Such heroics are typically celebrated and publicized, but with Cold War tensions high in the early 1950s, Williams vowed to keep his clash with the Russians quiet. The Soviet Union was not “officially” involved in the Korean War. 

Williams, of Escondido, California, did not speak of the incident until 2016, after a series of Soviet war records were declassified and made public. For over six decades, the former pilot, who also served in Vietnam, didn’t even confide in his wife or brother, a fellow Navy veteran. 

When his story was revealed, however, other veterans and political leaders started campaigning to get Williams properly honored for his heroics. 

In 2023, the retired Navy captain received the Navy Cross, and in 2026, he will be awarded the military’s highest achievement for valor – the Medal of Honor. Williams received the news from the Commander-in-Chief himself, President Donald Trump, earlier in the week. 

‘Secret’ War in the Sky 

When Williams’s long-held secret came out, Congressman Darrell Issa, from Bonsall, California, began advocating for him to be honored by the military. Issa was pleased to hear the veteran is receiving the Medal of Honor. 

“My friend, constituent, and hero Royce Williams is 100 years young, a Top Gun pilot like no other, and an American hero for all time,” Issa said in a statement. “The heroism and valor he demonstrated for more than 35 harrowing minutes almost 70 years ago in the skies over the North Pacific and the coast of North Korea unquestionably saved the lives of his fellow pilots, shipmates, and crew. His story is one for the ages and it now has its rightful chapter as Royce receives the Medal of Honor.” 

Despite keeping the mission secret for more than 60 years, the date Nov. 18, 1952, was seared into Williams’s memory. 

“Here came four of them from the front side, all firing, and the others were coming around from the other side …we came in head-on,” Williams told NBC 7 in 2016. 

“I saw bullets go over me and under me, then over me.... So, the fight went on and on and on.”

The fighter pilot’s feat carried historical military significance, but no one, besides his commanders, knew about it. Williams even kept the president in the dark. 

“I didn’t tell anyone, including my wife and my brother, who’s a naval aviator — no one,” Williams said. “I had a meeting with President Eisenhower, and I didn’t even talk about that.”

It didn’t help that the weather along the Korean peninsula that day was brutal with low, gray clouds, strong winds, and snow showers. Despite the inclement weather, Williams fought on, outlasting seven enemy fighter jets.

“When I take into account the level of capability of the airplane, it was sort of like God giving David a task of Goliath – only I had seven Goliaths,” Williams said.

Williams’s Feat ‘Unmatched’ 

In 2016, retired Rear Adm. Doniphan B. Shelton said Williams’s feat was unprecedented in aviation combat and likely hasn’t been duplicated since. 

“The aviation historians, the knowledgeable ones, will tell you without a blemish that this event by Royce was unmatched in the Korean War, was unmatched in the Vietnam War, unmatched ever since then,” Shelton said. “It stands alone all by itself as a really amazing situation.” 

Before he died in 2021 at age 100, Shelton was one of the leading voices promoting Williams’s bid for the Medal of Honor, also receiving nods from four-star admirals. 

“There’s nothing wrong with the Silver Star that they gave him, believe me, that’s a wonderful award, but it’s not what he earned,” Shelton said. 

Shelton also believed that if Williams’s achievement had been publicly known in 1952, he would have met the criteria to receive both the Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor decades ago. 

Reflecting upon that daring dogfight in 2016 and the possibility of being honored, Williams revealed another hidden tidbit – it was his first mission. 

“I am the only person to have ever shot down four jets in one mission ... and on my first mission at that ... so I don’t know, maybe that qualifies,” Williams said back then about the possibility of the medals. 

“People say thank you for your service. I say thank you for letting me serve.”

Almost 75 years later, Williams is no longer the forgotten hero of the forgotten war.