Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1819 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	V
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1819
5	5	To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to E. Royce Williams
6	6	for acts of valor during the Korean War.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH3, 2025
9	9	Mr. I
10	10	SSAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
11	11	on Armed Services
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor
14	14	to E. Royce Williams for acts of valor during the Korean
15	15	War.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3
19	19	Congress finds the following: 4
20	20	(1) On November 18, 1952, then Lieutenant E. 5
21	21	Royce Williams and Combat Air Patrol Task Force 6
22	22	77 carried out an airstrike on the Hoeryong indus-7
23	23	trial complex near the Korea-Russia border. In re-8
24	24	sponse, seven Soviet MiG–15s launched from a So-9
25	25	viet base near Vladivostok. Williams and three other 10
26	26	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1819.IH H1819
27	27	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
28	28	•HR 1819 IH
29	29	U.S. pilots flying F9F–5 Panthers were dispatched 1
30	30	from the U.S.S. Oriskany to pursue the seven MiG– 2
31	31	15s in blizzard conditions to engage over the Sea of 3
32	32	Japan. 4
33	33	(2) When the Flight Leader’s instruments re-5
34	34	ported a fuel-pump warning, he was escorted back to 6
35	35	the U.S.S. Oriskany by his wingman. 7
36	36	(3) Williams and his wingman, Dave Rowlands, 8
37	37	remained airborne. Williams fired upon one MiG–15 9
38	38	and Rowlands followed it out of formation, leaving 10
39	39	Williams to pursue the remaining six MiG–15s on 11
40	40	his own. In his efforts, Williams expended all of his 12
41	41	ammunition and shot down four, very likely five, of 13
42	42	the seven Soviet MiG–15s, setting the American avi-14
43	43	ator record for MiGs shot in a single sortie and the 15
44	44	only naval dogfight over water in the Korean War. 16
45	45	(4) After sustaining a hit from a 37 millimeter 17
46	46	shell that disabled his electrical and hydraulic sys-18
47	47	tems, Williams underwent enemy fire while returning 19
48	48	to the carrier as well as friendly fire from escort ves-20
49	49	sels after being mistaken for enemy aircraft. 21
50	50	(5) Without rudders to slow his descent, Wil-22
51	51	liams landed on the U.S.S. Oriskany at a speed of 23
52	52	170 knots, miraculously able to safely engage the 24
53	53	number three wire. 25
54	54	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1819.IH H1819
55	55	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
56	56	•HR 1819 IH
57	57	(6) Williams’ aircraft sustained 263 holes and 1
58	58	a foot-long gash while the only injury sustained by 2
59	59	Williams was a bloody neck, chafed by his gear. Wil-3
60	60	liams was told not to speak of the events of that day 4
61	61	by his commanders, and, at the time, was only offi-5
62	62	cially credited for one downed and one damaged 6
63	63	enemy in the fight. 7
64	64	(7) Witnesses to this heroism were the first unit 8
65	65	of the then newly created National Security Agency, 9
66	66	codenamed ‘‘Canoe’’, aboard the USS Helena. Inter-10
67	67	cepting Soviet communications, the unit recorded 11
68	68	the transmissions that three Soviet MiGs were shot 12
69	69	down, and one pilot ejected his compromised aircraft 13
70	70	and then died. One aircraft returned to base in 14
71	71	Vladivostok. 15
72	72	(8) At the end of the Cold War, Russia released 16
73	73	the names of the four pilots shot down in combat on 17
74	74	November 18, 1952. 18
75	75	(9) When Williams was awarded the Silver Star 19
76	76	for his actions on November 18, 1952, the drafters 20
77	77	did not have access to the top secret radio intel-21
78	78	ligence or the subsequent Russian report released 22
79	79	after the Cold War. 23
80	80	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1819.IH H1819
81	81	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
82	82	•HR 1819 IH
83	83	(10) Williams served in the Navy for over 30 1
84	84	years, flew over 220 missions in Korea and Vietnam, 2
85	85	and retired in 1984. 3
86	86	(11) On January 20th, 2023, Williams’ Silver 4
87	87	Star was upgraded by the Secretary of the Navy to 5
88	88	the Navy Cross. 6
89	89	(12) E. Royce Williams deserves the Congres-7
90	90	sional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on No-8
91	91	vember 18, 1952, when he successfully eliminated 9
92	92	four, likely five, of seven MiG–15s in a far less supe-10
93	93	rior aircraft during the 35-minute-long aerial battle 11
94	94	wherein he never once sought safety in the clouds or 12
95	95	abandoned the mission despite being outnumbered 13
96	96	and outgunned. 14
97	97	SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR AWARD OF MEDAL OF HONOR 15
98	98	TO E. ROYCE WILLIAMS FOR ACTS OF VALOR 16
99	99	DURING THE KOREAN WAR. 17
100	100	(a) W
101	101	AIVER OF TIMELIMITATIONS.—Notwith-18
102	102	standing the time limitations specified in section 8298 of 19
103	103	title 10, United States Code, or any other time limitation 20
104	104	with respect to the awarding of certain medals to persons 21
105	105	who served in the Armed Forces, the President may award 22
106	106	the Medal of Honor under section 8291 of such title to 23
107	107	E. Royce Williams for the acts of valor described in sub-24
108	108	section (b). 25
109	109	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1819.IH H1819
110	110	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
111	111	•HR 1819 IH
112	112	(b) ACTS OFVALORDESCRIBED.—The acts of valor 1
113	113	described in this subsection are the actions of E. Royce 2
114	114	Williams, as a lieutenant in the Navy, on November 18, 3
115	115	1952. 4
116	116	Æ
117	117	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1819.IH H1819
118	118	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB