As time softens the sharp recollections of war, the surviving firsthand accounts become increasingly invaluable. While tales of fierce battles and grueling training often dominate, it is frequently the quieter, human moments—the late-night conversations, the brief connections between comrades—that illuminate true resilience and character.
This reality is starkly illustrated on the eve of disaster. On December 6, 1941, two young U.S. Army Air Corps pilots spent the night drinking and talking past midnight, leaving them weary and unready for the day to come. Mere hours later, Japanese planes swept over Pearl Harbor, shattering the morning calm. The pilots awoke hungover and disoriented, suddenly plunged into chaos.
With no time to pause, they abandoned protocol, sprinted to their Curtiss P-40B Tomahawks, and took to the skies under heavy fire, confronting the attackers head-on.
Their bravery quickly entered legend. While Pearl Harbor (2001) dramatized the event for Hollywood, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) provides a depiction more faithful to history.
Exhausted, outnumbered, and facing immediate peril, the two pilots rose to the occasion with remarkable resolve—a testament to the idea that courage is not defined by perfect conditions, but by the willingness to act when it counts most.
Night before the ‘Day of Infamy’
The attack on December 7, 1941, took place on a Sunday, which means that, for many on Ford Island (particularly those stationed there), a typical Saturday night was all that separated them from the day that would come to live in infamy.
Returning to the barracks, 2nd Lt. George Welch and Ken Taylor of the 15th Pursuit Group had just returned from an epic night of partying and poker. To be musing about the night’s activities one minute and watching the attack the next must have been quite a sobering sight.
The Japanese attacked in two waves, with over 350 fighters, bombers and torpedo aircraft from six different aircraft carriers. The target was the US Pacific Fleet, most of which was anchored at Pearl Harbor at the time. When it was over, eight battleships were sunk or heavily damaged, along with three light cruisers, a minelayer, an anti-aircraft training ship and three destroyers.
Some 188 American aircraft were also destroyed, mostly sitting wing to wing on the ground, but that doesn’t mean a few brave fighters didn’t take to the sky to give the Japanese a little taste of what was to come.
Responding to the attack on Pearl Harbor
As Wheeler Field became a primary target for the Japanese, George Welch called out to Haleiwa Field to have two P-40s fueled and ready because two pilots were coming in hot… Potentially a little drunk and hungover, but coming in hot all the same.
The pair sped to the airfield in their Buick and quickly mounted the aircraft without orders, to simply do what they could. The P-40s were initially only armed with .30-cal. ammunition for the wing guns, but to these two men, that was enough to get started.
After they took off, they headed toward Barbers Point, at the southwest tip of Oahu, and initially saw an unarmed group of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses flying from the mainland. They arrived at Ewa Mooring Mast Field to find it being strafed by 12 Aichi D3A “Val” dive bombers (some say Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” dive bombers) from the second Japanese wave, after they’d expended their bomb ordnance at Pearl Harbor.
While Welch and Ken Taylor were outnumbered six-to-one, they immediately began firing on the dive bombers. Taylor shot down two enemy dive bombers and was able to damage another. They continued to circle the skies, fighting whatever targets presented themselves until they needed to return to base for more ammunition and fuel.
Returning to Wheeler under the threat of friendly anti-aircraft fire, they sought to refuel and load up with the more potent .50-cal. ammunition for their nose-mount synchronized machine guns. When they returned, however, the ammunition was in a burning hanger. Despite this, two brave mechanics ran into the inferno to save what they could.
Returning to the skies over Hawaii
After quickly restocking their P-40s with fresh ammunition, George Welch and Ken Taylor climbed once more to intercept the second wave of attackers descending on Pearl Harbor. As Taylor dove toward an approaching formation, danger struck suddenly—Mitsubishi A6M Zeros tore through the clouds, springing a perfectly timed ambush.
A shell exploded inside Taylor’s cockpit, missing his head by mere inches. Shrapnel tore through his left arm and embedded itself deep in his leg. Witnessing his comrade struck, Welch reacted instantly, rolling into position, locking onto a Zero, and sending it plummeting to the ground in flames. Despite severe pain, Taylor steadied his aircraft, lined up another enemy fighter, and disabled it as it attempted to escape.
The pair regrouped in midair and plunged back into the fray. Their fierce counterattack shattered the ambush, forcing the Japanese pilots to abandon their offensive and retreat toward their carriers.
Even as his wounds worsened and ammunition ran low, Taylor refused to disengage, firing until every gun was empty and continuing to pursue the retreating aircraft until the sky fell silent.
Though they had acted without orders—openly defying directives to stay grounded—neither hesitated when the moment demanded courage. Both men were nominated for the Medal of Honor and were ultimately awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, a lasting tribute to their fearless stand against overwhelming odds.
Fighting in World War II
After Pearl Harbor, George Welch was initially tasked with giving war bond speeches to support the war effort, while Ken Taylor was assigned to the 44th Fighter Squadron, with whom he’d go on to score additional air-to-air kills. He’d later be wounded in an air raid at Guadalcanal and was sent home to train American pilots.
Following the Second World War, Taylor remained in the service and became an officer in the newly formed US Air Force. He retired at the rank of colonel, before joining the Alaska Air National Guard, from which he retired a brigadier general in 1971.
Welch’s story was a little more tragic. In 1944, he resigned his commission to become a test pilot for some of the country’s newly evolving jet aircraft. While instructing and training American pilots on these new aircraft in the Korean War, it was reported that Welch scored several MiG kills – in direct disobedience to orders – while “supervising” his students.
In 1954, while test piloting a North American F-100 Super Sabre, the aircraft broke up mid-air, ultimately resulting in his death. Welch would go on to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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While the fate of these two men would take separate courses, what they accomplished in the sky over Pearl Harbor inspired a nation. They proved from early on that America was ready for a fight and that the iconic words of Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto to be true. When he said, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve,” it would be because men like Welch and Taylor were determined to make it so.