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THE 456th FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON |
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General Ken Taylor Obituary |
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The First Commander Of The 456th Fighter Squadron
2nd Lieutenant Ken Taylor
Kenneth
M. Taylor
Brigadier General, United States Air Force
Retired
Brigadier General Kenneth M. Taylor (Retired) was one of the first U.S. pilots to see action in World War II. He destroyed four enemy aircraft on that day at Pearl Harbor, wearing a pair of tuxedo pants and uniform shirt he scrambled into from a dance the previous night. He continued to serve in the South Pacific, first as a pilot and Operations Officer, then as a Fighter Squadron, Group, and Base Commander.
After the war he commanded the 4925th Special Test Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, before becoming Chief of the USAF Plans Branch at the Pentagon. Eventually he moved on to the Alaskan Air Command, becoming a Brigadier General before retiring from service in 1967.
Kenneth Taylor; Flew Against Pearl Harbor Raiders
By Patricia Sullivan
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Sunday, December 3, 2006Kenneth M. Taylor, 86, an Army Air Forces pilot who managed to get airborne under fire near Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and shot down at least two Japanese attacking aircraft, died November 25, 2006, at an assisted living residence in Tucson. He had been ill since hip surgery two years ago.
He was a new Second Lieutenant on his first assignment, posted in April 1941 to Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu. A week before the Japanese attacked, his 47th Pursuit Squadron was temporarily moved to Haleiwa Field, an auxiliary airstrip about 10 miles from Wheeler, for gunnery practice.
Click on Picture to enlarge
Kenneth Taylor (left) with George S. Welch, ( who died in 1954 ) shortly after their epic air battle over Pearl Harbor.
After a night of poker and dancing at the officers' club at Wheeler, where the dress code required tuxedoes, 21-year-old Lieutenant Taylor and fellow pilot George Welch awoke to the sound of planes flying low, machine-gun fire and explosions. They learned that two-thirds of the U.S. aircraft at the main bases of Hickam and Wheeler fields were demolished or unable to fly.
They quickly pulled on their tuxedo pants and, while Welch ran to get Lieutenant Taylor's new Buick, Lieutenant Taylor, without orders, called Haleiwa and commanded the ground crews to get two P-40 fighters armed and ready for takeoff.
Strafed by Japanese aircraft, the pair sped 10 miles from Honolulu to Haleiwa. At the airstrip, they climbed into their fighters, which were fueled but not fully armed, took off and soon attracted fire from the Japanese, who had not expected to be challenged in the air. Suddenly, they were in combat, two pilots against 200 to 300 Japanese aircraft.
Soon out of ammunition, Welch and Lieutenant Taylor landed at Wheeler to rearm. Senior officers ordered them to stay on the ground.
"He had been wounded by that point and was bleeding," said Lieutenant Taylor's son, retired Air Force Brigadier General Kenneth Taylor Jr. "But while ground crews were rearming the planes, and he was being lectured on his behavior, the Japanese attacked Wheeler again. That scattered the crowd, and [Lieutenant Taylor and Welch] took off. My dad actually hit some ammo carts as he was taking off and fired his guns before he was off the ground."
His father told the Army Times in 2001: "I took off right toward them, which gave me the ability to shoot at them before I even left the ground. I got behind one of them and started shooting again. The only thing I didn't know at that time was that I got in the middle of the line rather than the end. There was somebody on my tail.
"They put a bullet right behind my head through the canopy and into the trim tab inside. So I got a little bit of shrapnel in my leg and through the arm. It was of no consequence; it just scared the hell out of me for a minute."
Official records credit Lieutenant Taylor with two kills. His son noted that his father thought he had two more, although in the heat of the battle he didn't see the planes hit the ground, and potential witnesses were too busy to keep track. Welch was credited with four downed Japanese planes. American aircraft losses were estimated at 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, and the Japanese lost 29 planes.
For their service, Lieutenant's Taylor and Welch were awarded the first Distinguished Service Crosses of World War II. Lieutenant Taylor later received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Air Medal and other decorations. He also received a Purple Heart for his injuries.
A family friend, John Martin Meek, has been trying for the past five years to get the Distinguished Service Cross upgraded to a Medal of Honor, with a campaign at his Web site, http://www.pearlharborhero.net.
Born December 23, 1919, in Enid, Oklahoma, Kenneth Marlar Taylor was raised in Hominy, Oklahoma, and entered the University of Oklahoma in 1938. After two years, he quit school to enlist in the Army Air Corps.
His first commanding officer, retired General Gordon Austin, chose Lieutenants Taylor and Welch as his flight commanders shortly after their arrival in Hawaii.
"He was skillful as a pilot and a well-oriented officer," said Austin, now 93 and living in Alexandria. "You couldn't ask for a better flying officer in your squadron. He was willing to do anything, I'm sure. The enemy was all around and he was going after them."
After Pearl Harbor, the young pilot was sent to the South Pacific, flying out of Guadalcanal, and was credited with downing another Japanese aircraft. During an air raid at the base one day, someone jumped into a trench on top of him and broke his leg, which ended his combat career.
He rose to the rank of Colonel during his 27 years of active duty having served at various bases stateside during and after the war, including the Pentagon, where he retired as a colonel in 1969. He then became commander of the Alaska Air National Guard and retired as a Brigadier General in 1971. Following retirement Taylor he then worked as an insurance underwriter in Alaska, representing Lloyds of London, until 1985.
General Taylor split his retirement between Anchorage and Arizona. He was a technical adviser for the 1970 film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" in which his character was played by actor Carl Reindel. In the 2001 movie "Pearl Harbor," actor Ben Affleck played a character based on Gen. Taylor, although he was not consulted and considered the film "a piece of trash . . . over-sensationalized and distorted," according to his son.
"My dad was modest and retiring about all this," his son said. "I have picked up what I know about it in snippets over the years. He was always self-conscious about people making a big deal of it, and he wanted to be remembered as a good husband, a good provider and a good citizen."
Gen. Taylor died Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006 in an assisted living residence in Tucson Az. of natural causes.
Family
On May 9, 1942, Taylor married Flora Love Morrison of Hennessy, OK, whom he had met when she was visiting her father in Hawaii. Married for 65 years, the Taylors had two children; a daughter, Tina Hartley of Mercer Island, Washington; and three grandchildren, son Ken II Taylor's son, Ken II, retired as a brigadier general after commanding the Alaska Air National Guard, the same position formerly held by his father.
Arlington National Cemetery
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A typical example of the P-40B fighters serving with the 15th Fighter Group at Wheeler Field on Oahu in late 1941. It was in this type of fighter that George Welch and Ken Taylor took full measure of the Japanese fighters and bombers dealing destruction to Pearl Harbor. The P-40B proved to be more than a match for the A6M2 Zero as long as its pilot took advantage of the inherent strengths of the rugged Curtiss.
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Biographies |
Brigadier General (Ret) Kenneth M. Taylor
Click on Picture to enlarge
The Pearl Harbor Pilots
Taylor & Welch at the awards ceremony
General Taylor was born in Enid, Oklahoma on 23 December 1919 but spent most of his youth in the small eastern Oklahoma town of Hominy where he graduated from high school in 1938. Like many young men of the community he also attended the University of Oklahoma. In 1940 the excitement of aviation lured him away from academe and into Army pilot training. He completed the aviation cadet program in 1941 and went to his first assignment with the 47th Pursuit Squadron of the 15th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field in Hawaii.
The new second lieutenant's enjoyment of the glamorous fighter pilot's life was rudely interrupted by the Japanese attack on Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. His squadron's aircraft escaped destruction in the initial attack because they had been deployed to an outlying airfield for gunnery training. He and a squadron mate, Lt George Welch, were the first Americans airborne in their P-40s to meet the Japanese. The results of his two sorties that day were two confirmed kills, two probables (later confirmed), the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.
Other wartime experiences included flying P-40s from the carrier USS Nassau to Guadalcanal via Espirito Santos. He stayed with the 44th Pursuit Squadron there until 1943 scoring two additional victories. He finished the war as a Major. The late war years and the immediate postwar years were turbulent ones with many assignments: command of several units including the P-47 Replacement Training Unit, the 12th Pursuit Squadron and the 18th Pursuit Group. Immediately following the war in the Philippines he commanded a squadron of the first USAF combat jets, the P-80.
Subsequent assignments included command of the 4961st Special Weapons Test Group at Kirtland AFB, tactical evaluator duty at USAFE/IG and a tour as a planner at Headquarters, USAF. During this last assignment the general, then a colonel, made his first visit to Alaska where he evaluated the command planning process. His criticisms may have resulted in his assignment in 1958 as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans for the Alaskan Air Command. In 1961 he was reassigned as the Director of Operations for the 28th NORAD Region in California and then in 1964 to a final Pentagon tour as a long range planner on the Joint Staff.
In 1967 he retired from the active Air Force and assumed the position of Assistant Adjutant General, Air, for the Alaska National Guard and was promoted to the grade of Brigadier General. His tenure there saw creation of the first group (now the 176th Group) in the Alaska Air Guard. After his second retirement from uniform in 1971, General Taylor began another career as an aviation insurance broker representing Lloyds of London in Alaska. He has been fully retired since 1985.
During his career the general graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, the Royal Staff College and the Air War College. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Achievement Medal and several wartime campaign ribbons in addition to his two Pearl Harbor decorations.
General Taylor lives in Anchorage with his wife Flora (friends call her 'Baby'). The couple have two children, Ken Taylor Jr. and Tina Hartley, both also living in Anchorage. The family tradition of National Guard service started by the general is carried on by his son who serves as the current commander of the Alaska ANG and grandson, Eric, who is a Para-rescue Specialist in the 210th Rescue Squadron.
BRIGADIER GENERAL KENNETH M. TAYLOR, JR.
Retired effective Sep 1, 1997
Click on Picture to enlarge
Brigadier General Kenneth M. Taylor, Jr. is the commander of the Alaska Air National Guard.
He graduated from Anchorage High School in 1961. He attended the College of Marin, Kentfield, Calif. and later received a bachelor of art degree in political science, international relations from the University of Oklahoma in 1966. His military education includes the Air War College, by seminar, in 1976.
General Taylor began his military career by receiving his commission in the Air Force after completing the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Oklahoma. He then graduated from pilot training in 1967. His first duty assignment was as a C-141 pilot, Travis AFB, Calif, November 1967 until January 1970. His next assignments were as an AC-119 gunship pilot in the Republic of Vietnam from January to December 1970; and as a C-123 pilot, Elmendorf, AFB, Alaska from December 1970 until he left active duty service in August 1971.
He joined the Alaska ANG in October 1971 and was assigned to the 176th Tactical Airlift Group, Kulis ANGB, Anchorage, AK. While with the 176th TAG, he held the following positions: group air operations officer, October 1971 to March 1973; aircraft commander/standardization and evaluation chief, April 1973 to September 1976; tactical airlift aircraft commander, September 1976 to August 1977; operations center chief, August 1977 to June 1978; air operations officer, July to September 1978; and chief, Command Post, October 1978 to April 1979. In May 1979, he transferred to the 144th Tactical Airlift Squadron as a unit operations officer, C-130 flight examiner aircraft commander. In November 1982, he returned to the 176th TAG in the following positions: group flight safety officer, November 1982 to May 1983; deputy commander for operations, May 1983 to April 1985; and commander, Resource Management Squadron, May 1985 to May 1986. In May 1986, he transfer to Headquarters, Alaska ANG, as the director of operations. He was reassigned as commander, 176th Composite Group from April 1988 to October 1990. In October 1990, he assumed his present position as commander, Alaska ANG.
General Taylor is a command pilot with more than 6,600 flying hours of which over 500 were flown on combat missions, in the C-130H/E, C-123, C-131 and T-29 aircraft. His military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with one silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with “V” and three bronze oak leaf clusters, Combat Readiness Medal with one silver and one bronze oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Air Force Overseas Ribbon - Long, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with one silver oak leaf cluster, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with one hourglass device, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, Air Force Training Ribbon, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. His state awards include the Alaska Commendation Medal, and Alaska Domestic Emergency Ribbon with one bronze oak leaf cluster.
The general was promoted to and federally recognized as a brigadier general on Oct. 6, 1992.
Obituary
Courtesy of the Tucson Citizen
By SHERYL KORNMAN
Pearl Harbor hero pilot Taylor dies here at 86
A fighter pilot hero of World War II has died here.Kenneth Taylor was 86.
Click on Picture to enlarge
Kenneth M. Taylor 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
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His remains were cremated and will be placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, his son said. There will be no funeral service.
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