1 week ago
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President Donald Trump bestowed the Medal of Honor on Escondido war hero Royce Williams during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address in Washington, triggering a standing ovation that lasted more than two minutes and left the 100-year-old retired Navy fighter pilot humbled and smiling.
The medal was draped around Williams’ neck by first lady Melania Trump, who sat with him throughout the president’s record-long national address in the House chamber of the Capitol.
Williams was given the military’s highest honor for courageously taking on seven Soviet MiG aircraft over Korea in 1952 and knocking four of them out of the sky in what is widely regarded as one of the longest and toughest aerial dogfights in the history of the Navy.
The fight lasted 35 minutes and ended with Williams guiding his bullet-ridden F9F-5 aircraft onto an aircraft carrier that worked hard to help him land safely.
“Despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned, Royce led the takedown of four enemy jets and almost destroyed the others,” Trump said in the closing moments of his speech.
He was “vanquishing adversaries while taking 263 bullets to his own plane and being seriously hurt …Tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves,” Trump said.
English (US) ·