P-47 Ace Salutes and Spares Crying Japanese Pilot

On December 7, 1944, high above the Philippine Sea, Major Bill Dunham of the 460th Fighter Squadron led a patrol of ten Republic P-47D Thunderbolts. The mission was routine until they spotted a formation of Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 fighters far below. The Thunderbolts dove from altitude, their .50-caliber guns roaring as they ripped into the enemy formation.

Major Dunham himself shot down one Ki-43, sending it plunging into the sea. The Japanese pilot managed to bail out, floating helplessly beneath his parachute. For Dunham, it was a moment heavy with memory — and choice.

A Memory of Betrayal

Months earlier, while flying over New Guinea with fellow pilots and his close friend Colonel Neal Kirby, Dunham had watched in horror as a Japanese fighter shot Kirby dead while he descended in his parachute. The loss haunted him, filling him with anger and grief. Allied pilots knew that capture awaited them if they were taken prisoner — but killing a defenseless man under canopy was something else entirely.

Now, seeing the Japanese pilot dangling in midair, Dunham’s hand tightened on the trigger. He had every reason to finish what he started. Instead, he held his fire.

A Gesture of Mercy

Circling back, Dunham passed by the descending pilot head-on. To the Japanese airman’s shock, the American did not fire. Instead, Dunham offered a nod of recognition and flew on.

But the act didn’t end there. When the Ki-43 pilot splashed down in rough seas without a life jacket, Dunham returned again. Flying just above the waves, he tossed his own life jacket and a survival pack into the water. The two men exchanged a salute — enemies in war, but not in that moment.

Escape Under Fire

The gesture nearly cost Dunham his life. Low and slow after helping the downed pilot, he was jumped by other Japanese fighters. His P-47 suffered severe wing and tail damage, but thanks to the Thunderbolt’s legendary toughness — and emergency power from its massive Pratt & Whitney R-2800 — he escaped and limped home.

Legacy of Chivalry

Dunham would finish the war with 16 confirmed kills, earning the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry. After the war, he reflected that it felt as if “the Lord had put His hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Bill, don’t do it.’” His rare act of mercy foreshadowed changes in international law: in 1949, the Geneva Conventions declared it a war crime to attack enemy parachutists who are no longer combatants.

Major Bill Dunham passed away in 1990 at age 70, remembered not only as an ace, but as a man who, in the heat of battle, chose humanity over vengeance.