William A Shomo MOH

 

Ok, another in the series of USAF (and predecessor) Medal of Honor recipient.  This recipient is a member of a list of very few but lucky recipients.  He served in WWII where he earned the medal.  He passed away in 1990 at 81.  So, earned the medal and survived the war.  There aren't a lot of those folks.

 

In any case, on with the story which takes place in the Pacific AOR.  I'll confess that I didn't realize that P-51s were in use there.  

 

Source

 

 

I thought the primary fighter for the long range needed in the Pacific was the P-38.  Well, evidently I was mistaken and learned something new.  The P-51 went into action in the Pacifi in January 1945.  So...Thanks Sarge for offering me the opportunity to learn some History.

 

7 of those 8 Japanese flags occurred on  ONE sortie! 

Source

 

In any case, the subject for this week is Major William A Shomo. 

 

Major Shomo

Source 

 

 

 

Take a look at that picture. Does he look like a badass or what?  Well, let me tell you his story and believe me, when you've read it, you'll add a new definition to the word "Badass".

 

Prior to December 1944, after Major Shomo had been stationed in Papua, New Guinea and flying very short range P-36's and P-40s (a big problem in the little lake called the Pacific Ocean).   At that point, he was transferred to Mindoro, in the Phillipines.  He was given command of an F-6D squadron at that point.  While armed with the standard P-51 6x50 cal machine guns, the F-6D's primary mission was photo reconnaissance.  

 

F-6D 

Source

 

 

That makes this story a little bit more interesting.

 

On January 9, 1945, Major Shomo was leading a reconnaissance mission over northern Luzon.  On spotting a Japanese "Val" dive bomber approaching it's airfield to land.  Major Shomo immediately dived on it and shot it down for his first victory.

 

Two days later, on another reconnaissance mission to photograph Japanese airfields on Luzon, they saw 12 Japanese fighters escorting a bomber.  Major Shomo immediately pulled up in an Immelman turn (basically an vertical 180 degree turn) and engaged the formation.  In the engagement, he attacked two of the escorting  fighters and then the bomber.  All of which he shot down.  At that point he engaged some of the other escorts, shooting down four of them.  His wingman shot down 3 of the remainng 6 aircraft.

 

I expect morale in the Japanese squadron took a hit. 

 

Folks, flying and fighting like that takes a lot of guts and even more skill.  AND...That's not the highest score for a single engagement.  Just so my Navy friends don't protest.  The highest single engagement victory count is.  Commander David McCamble shot down 9 Japanese fighters and two probables in a single engagement. 

 

President Reagan (and I have quoted him recently) said "Where do we get such men?"

 

Good Question. 

 

 

Citation for the award of Medal of Honor

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Maj. Shomo was lead pilot of a flight of two fighter planes charged with an armed photographic and strafing mission against the Aparri and Laoag airdromes. While en route to the objective, he observed an enemy twin engine bomber, protected by 12 fighters, flying about 2,500 feet above him and in the opposite direction. Although the odds were 13 to 2, Maj. Shomo immediately ordered an attack. Accompanied by his wingman he closed on the enemy formation in a climbing turn and scored hits on the leading plane of the third element, which exploded in midair. Maj. Shomo then attacked the second element from the left side of the formation and shot another fighter down in flames. When the enemy formed for counterattack, Maj. Shomo moved to the other side of the formation and hit a third fighter which exploded and fell. Diving below the bomber, he put a burst into its underside and it crashed and burned. Pulling up from this pass he encountered a fifth plane firing head on and destroyed it. He next dived upon the first element and shot down the lead plane; then diving to 300 feet in pursuit of another fighter he caught it with his initial burst and it crashed in flames. During this action his wingman had shot down three planes, while the three remaining enemy fighters had fled into a cloud bank and escaped. Maj. Shomo's extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity in attacking such a far superior force and destroying seven enemy aircraft in one action is unparalleled in the southwest Pacific area.

 

Sources

 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Shomo

-https://worldwarwings.com/pilot-destroys-40-enemy-planes-wwii/.   

Good info source here, but the number of kills in the URL is wrong he didn't destroy 40 aircraft. I don't know why that is in the URL, that was Dick Bongs kill number

 -https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-a-shomo 

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang_variants#P-51D_and_P-51K 

https://alchetron.com/cdn/william-a-shomo-0721dfb0-d2ec-4bf4-a8a3-a89a433630a-resize-750.jpg