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