American Valor Quarterly Issue 9 - Summer 2012 | Page 29

Sinking the Rising Sun By William E. Davis Bill Davis was a senior in college, and ready to embark on a career as an engineer with RCA when on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched their surprise raid on Pearl Harbor. Putting his other plans on hold, Davis immediately decided to join the Navy—ready to do his part in avenging the attack. Davis always had a passion for flight, and would become a pilot in the Naval Air Corps, assigned to the Pacific flying combat missions against the Japanese. His squadron would amass a remarkable record, shooting down 155 enemy planes while only losing two of their own in aerial combat. He would see action at Guam, Palau, Iwo Jima and Haha Jima, and Formosa. But it was in October of 1944, just days after General MacArthur’s return to the Philippines, that Davis would find himself attacking his most satisfying target yet— the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, the last remaining Japanese carrier to take part in the attack on Pearl Harbor... National Archives Once again we hit the airfields of southern Luzon. Th