Kenneth Taylor

From The Air Combat Wiki

Pearl Harbor hero pilot Taylor dies here at 86

SHERYL KORNMAN Published: 12.02.2006

A fighter pilot hero of World War II has died here. Kenneth Taylor was 86. The Army Air Corps second lieutenant was "comfortably asleep" in borrowed officers' quarters on a Hawaiian island one Sunday morning in 1941 after a "very entertaining" Saturday night out, his son Kenneth Taylor Jr. recalled yesterday. The 21-year-old pilot, who'd never seen combat, awoke suddenly to the sound of the Japanese attack on U.S. military forces in Hawaii. Japanese pilots were strafing the officers' quarters where Taylor and 24-year-old pilot George S. Welch slept. The first wave of Japanese fighter planes had wrecked most of the Army's air fleet on Oahu, dropping high explosives on two-thirds of the fleet of 140 P-40s and P-36s. And the U.S. Navy fleet in Pearl Harbor was under attack. Taylor and the 47th Fighter Squadron of the 18th Fighter Group were based at Wheeler Army Air Field in central Oahu for gunnery practice. The Curtiss P-40 Warhawks he and Welch flew weren't armed or fueled. Taylor's son said that was because the Army had been more afraid of sabotage than an attack by the Japanese. Taylor, dressed in tuxedo trousers from the night before, jumped out of bed to call the ground crew and asked it to arm and fuel their planes. "While the crew got their two planes ready to go, George Welch and my dad got into my dad's Buick convertible and drove out to the airfield" at up to 100 mph. Haleiwa Air Field was barely an airfield and more like "a strip of sod right off the beach," he said. Welch and Taylor got into their aircraft "while a major jumped all over both of them for taking off without orders. He was busy chewing them out while crews put the ammo on board." Taylor's P-40 "knocked over the ammunition dolly as he taxied out. My dad was firing his guns before he was off the ground. He took off into the tail of the Japanese airplanes." "This is a fighter pilot's dream," his son said. "Pearl Harbor's been attacked, and everything out there is a target." Taylor found himself "in the middle of an attack. Someone in the rear was attacking him, and he was wounded in the arm by a shell fragment. His squadron mate shot down the guy who was on his tail, otherwise he might not have survived that moment," the younger Taylor said. Taylor went back up in the air after getting first aid. He and Welch are credited with a total of six downed Japanese aircraft. "It was what he was supposed to do, what he was trained to do, what he had the temperament to do," his son said. Two weeks later, he turned 22. "He didn't feel particularly heroic," his son said. Taylor is credited with shooting down two Japanese fighter planes and with two unconfirmed hits. Welch is credited with four hits. The men received the Distinguished Service Cross for their valor but were denied the Medal of Honor because they went into combat without orders. Their actions were portrayed in the 1970 film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Taylor is survived by his wife, Flora, whom he married in 1942; son Kenneth Taylor Jr. of Green Valley; daughter Jo Kristina Hartley of Washington state and three grandchildren. His remains were cremated and will be placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, his son said. There will be no funeral service.

Five Army Air Corps pilots were credited with downing at least one Japanese aircraft during the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. They are from left, 1st Lt. Lewis M. Sanders, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen, 2nd Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor, 2nd Lt. George S. Welch and 2nd Lt. Harry W. Brown posing before a P-36 at Wheeler Field.

There is an effort to upgrade the Distinguished Service Cross awarded to Kenneth Tayor and George Welch to the Congressional Medal of Honor. The site listed below supports this cause.

http://www.pearlharborhero.net/