Kenneth Taylor, Pearl Harbor Hero-- Part 3: Fighting the Japanese in the Air

Kenneth Taylor and George Welch landed at Wheeler Field to rearm.  Wheeler had already been under attack.  Senior officers there at first ordered the two to abandon their airplanes.  But, when they quickly dispersed under a new Japanese attack, the two pilots had their opportunity to get back into the air.

With enemy planes attacking the field, Taylor opted to take off directly into their formation.so he could shoot at them as he took off and they couldn't shoot him from behind.

Said Taylor:  "Wheeler was just a grass field in those days, and you could take off in any direction you wanted, and I took off right toward them, which gave me the ability to shoot at them before I even left the ground."

In the ensuing engagement, Taylor received minor wounds.

Once in the air, Taylor continued:  "I got behind one of them and started shooting again.  The only thing I didn't know at the time was that I had got in the middle of their line instead of at the end.  there was somebody on my tail.  They put a bullet right behind my head through the canopy.  So I got a little shrapnel in my leg and through my arm.  It was of no consequence;  it just scared the hell out of me for a minute."

--GreGen