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This Web site is about the late B. Gen. Kenneth M.
Taylor, USAF Ret., one of the first two designated and decorated heroes of World War II. His medal, the Distinguished Service Cross, was for heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. This year the nation will be observing the 67th
anniversary of this surprise, deadly attack on both military and civilians on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
The first officially designated and decorated hero was Taylor's squadron mate, 2nd Lt. George Welch, who later downed 12 more Japanese planes in the South Pacific and was killed in 1954 as a test pilot. Because Welch received his commision in the U.S. Army
Air Corps a few months prior to his fellow pilot, by military procedures he was decorated just before Taylor on Jan. 8, 1942 during
an Army Air Corps medal presentation ceremony at Wheeler Field, Hawaii. But more about this and the extraordinary heroism
of these two young pilots later. The purpose of the site is twofold. First, it is in support of my efforts
the last seven years to get the Army Medals Board to upgrade the Distinguished Service Cross medals awarded to Ken
and George to the recogniton they both deserve -- the Congressional Medal of Honor. The second goal is to not let America forget Ken and George, who by official order of the U.S.
War Dept., were declared the first two heroes of World War II. This is necessary
because early on in the war, a factoid emerged giving the "first hero" status to another Army Air Corps pilot
whose action was not until Dec. 10 -- three days after Pearl Harbor. Long before the world knew about the other pilot,
the U.S. War Dept. on Dec. 13, 1941 announced the Taylor/Welch heroism and that both would be recipients of the Distinguished
Service Cross -- second highest military award after the Congressional Medal of Honor.
-- John Martin Meek
To the right is the shoulder patch of the U.S. Army Air Corps
at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Below is Dan Zoernig's painting, "Haleiwa Scramble," depicting Ken Taylor shooting
down a Japanese plane among the group he and George Welch spotted near the Marine base at Ewa that apparently were headed
for an attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese planes the two pilots shot down that day no doubt saved lives and substantial
destruction of U.S. military property. Remember, it took only one bomb to sink the U.S.S. Arizona.
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| Gen. Taylor died Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006 in Tucson of natural causes. |
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| Click on painting for Dan Zoernig web site. |
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| Dan Zoernig's "Haleiwa Scramble" was inspired by this web site. |
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| Photo courtesy of Touchstone Pictures |
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| Ben Affleck played Ken Taylor in the 2001 film, "Pearl Harbor." |
The Reluctant Hero
Why do I call Ken Taylor "the reluctant hero?"
I had known Ken and his wife, "Baby," several years before,
at my request, he talked about what happened at Pearl Harbor when I held a dinner in his honor in Washington, DC on the 30th anniversary of the surprise attack by the Japanese.
As he modestly related his role in repulsing, with fellow
pilot George Welch, the overwhelming odds of some 300 Japanese aircraft, he described it something akin to shooting fish in
a barrel.
I remember him saying that as he took off the Japanese planes
were flying in facing the sun and all he had to do was aim and start firing.
Of course I did not know then he was pulling our legs, but
have since learned a great deal about the skills he and Welch used to survive two flights above Hawaii that
day when they downed several enemy planes and lived to tell about it.
And, it was some 30 years later before Ken told me a
Japanese bullet came within an inch of his head and exploded in the cockpit with one piece going into his left arm. In telling
about this close call, he focuses more on the bullet fragments ruining his tux pants which he had pulled on when the
Japanese attacked Wheeler Field where he and George were asleep in the officer's
quarters.
But on a much larger scale where the Taylor/Welch heroism
has been detailed in books, magazines, old movie newsreels and two major films, with many factoids and errors about
what happened versus his own memory of that day, his reluctance as a hero is without question.
According to Mrs. Taylor, some of this came about because
he over the years dodged the media and historians by not taking their calls and correspondence and cooperating with their
projects.
That does not mean he has totally avoided the media limelight.
He was a consultant on the filming of the reasonably accurate "Tora! Tora! Tora!" film (1970) and received much national media coverage when Ben Affleck played him in "Pearl Harbor" (2001). Yet while the "Pearl Harbor" movie focused on his heroic role and publicized that it had consulted with
several Pearl Harbor survivors, its producers were never in touch with Ken.
For several years I have been pointing out to the media
the evidence that Ken and George were the first two designated and decorated heroes of World War II (George was decorated
first because he received his commission a few months before Ken), it seems of no importance to Ken that he since 1954
has been the first living hero and shot down the first planes of that epic struggle from 1941 to 1945
But, having had my career in public affairs in Chicago,
New York and
Washington, DC, Alaska, where the Taylors have lived many years, is
not exactly the center of the media universe.
-- JMM.
Proof of "First Heroes" Designation
These are the first few paragraphs of a United Press (UP) story that went out across
the country with a Washington, DC dateline on Dec.13, 1941.
"The Distinguished Service Cross -- highest honor the Army can bestow -- was
awarded tonight to two brave young fliers for 'extraordinary heroism in action' during Japan's surprise dawn attack against
Hawaii December 7,
"Honored were 2nd Lieutenants George S. Welch, 23, of Wilmington, Del. and Kenneth
M. Taylor of Hominy, Okla., who, between them, shot down six enemy planes in savage aerial fighting over the Island of Oahu
"They became the first men so honored in World War II. The decorations were
announced in Army Communique No.19 which said:
"'These awards are the first of a number to be given for heroism in Hawaii and
the Philippines during the present conflict. The others will be made in the future.
"'It is the policy of the War Department to award decorations for gallantry
in action as promptly as possible.'"
Further evidence of the first hero designation is a telegram, saved by
Ken's mother for a scrapbook on his career, dated Dec. 13 and sent by the UP bureau in Oklahoma City to a newspaper that served
the Hominy, OK area, asking for additional details on Ken. (See copy of the telegram at the lower part of this home page.)
On Sunday, Dec. 14 The Daily Oklahoman, Tulsa World and newspapers across the country
carried the story of the Taylor/Welch heroism.
But months later the media began carrying a factoid living on
today that Capt. Colin Kelly was the first hero of the war, even though his heroic act was on Dec. 10, 1941.
This belittles not just Taylor and Welch, but the 15 Navy men who received
the Congressional Medal of Honor and dozens of other heroes decorated for their deeds the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.
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| Ken when a new 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army Air Corps. |
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| Ken Taylor and Director Richard Fleischer on set of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" |
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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.\
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| Click on photograph to enlarge. |
Click on photograph to enlarge.
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Distinguished Service Cross
At right is the Distinguished Service Cross, the medal awarded
to Ken Taylor and George Welch for heroism during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ken, wounded during the Dec. 7 aerial combat,
later received the Purple Heart. In his scrapbook, there is a certifcate crediting him with shooting down one Japanese plane
while based on Guadalcanal. He has said he believes he downed at least one other enemy aircraft before being sent to
the States with a broken leg, when someone jumped on top of him in a foxhole during an air raid.
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| The Army Congressional Medal of Honor Ken Taylor and George Welch should have received. |
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Below is a copy of the telegram sent by the United Press (UP,
now UPI) bureau in Oklahoma City to a newspaper serving Hominy, OK, Ken Taylor's home town, asking for information on Ken
after UP in Washington, DC sent out the story from the U.S. War Dept. designating Ken and George Welch as the first two
heroes of World War II.
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