Students at Dover school remember World War II pilot with request for ultimate tribute

George Welch from Delaware was one of the few pilots able to take off after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and he shot down at least four Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941.

Now, students and staff at the elementary school named in his memory have reignited the campaign for Welch to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest recognition for valor in action against an enemy for U.S. armed forces personnel.

At Maj. George S. Welch Elementary at Dover Air Force Base, teacher Stephanie Cummings organized the school campaign at the request of Lt. Gen. Bill Welser. Welser was researching the topic and asked if the school would collaborate with him in preparing the application.

“We engaged students in coloring pictures and writing letters to President Biden, highlighting Welch’s achievements and the strong sense of community at our school,” Cummins said. “As Welch has no surviving family, we believed it was fitting for all the students at Maj. George Welch Elementary School to champion and preserve Welch’s legacy.”

The submission was sent to Sen. Tom Carper’s office in February.

During the Welch birthday celebration at the school May 10, Cummings announced that Biden’s staff received the application, but an answer may be three to six months away.

“It’s important that students know the history of who their school is named for,” said Cummings, “and we think he deserves the nation’s highest honor for his heroism during the war.”

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Why wasn’t the Medal of Honor awarded?

The Caesar Rodney School District compiled a biography of Welch with information from the school dedication in 1962, Delaware Today magazine, and “The Army Air Force in World War II, Vol. 1.”

Welch is from Wilmington, attended Friends School and graduated from St. Andrew's School near Middletown. He attended Purdue University, but with the war raging in Europe, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and graduated from flying school on Oct. 4, 1940.

During the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Welch shot down four Japanese aircraft, and squadron mate Ken Taylor reported that Welch hit at least two more that crashed too far out at sea to be confirmed.

Staff officers in Oahu, Hawaii, recommended Welch for the Congressional Medal of Honor, but it wasn't approved because the U.S. wasn't officially at war with Japan at the time of his actions, and he took off without official orders.

Welch was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military decoration for a member of the Army. At the time, the Air Force wasn’t a stand-alone branch of the military.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt honored Welch in ceremonies at the White House in May 1942.

More than 70 years later in The News Journal on Dec. 8, 2014, Harry Themal wrote an editorial column, “Why a Delaware hero won’t ever win a Medal of Honor.”

Themal recounted how Welch and Taylor raced to their planes when they realized Hawaii was being attacked.

“Gen. Henry H. (Hap) Arnold, chief of the Army Air Corps, thought Welch and Taylor should receive the Medal of Honor. He was apparently rejected for the outrageous reason, that the men acted without direct orders,” Themal wrote.

A group including Sen. Carper appealed to the Army in 2004 and again in 2007, asking for the Medal of Honor for Welch.

“Supporting information was gathered from the Army, Air Force, Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs and much published material. The key potential source, the National Personal Records Center in St. Louis, turned out to be a stumbling block because in July 1973, fire destroyed up to 18 million Army and Air Force early records of many discharged personnel. They included Welch’s files,” Themal wrote.

The nomination for the medal was denied. The official explanation was the Army needed "a copy of the original recommendation to determine if the original board made an error in its decision. Once a decision was made to award the Distinguished Service Cross instead of the Medal of Honor, it was considered an ‘administrative finality,’” Themal wrote.

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Breaking the sound barrier — was Welch the first?

Welch flew 348 combat missions during WWII and shot down 16 enemy aircraft before a case of malaria ended his tour in the Pacific.

He went to work with North American Aviation as a test pilot and is credited with being the second person to break the sound barrier on April 26, 1948.

The first to fly at “mach 1” was Chuck Yeager in Air Force testing of the X-1 jet Oct. 14, 1947.

But is that the whole story?

On Oct. 1, 1947, almost two weeks before Yeager’s historic flight, Welch was testing the new XP-86 Sabre jet.

The biography compiled by the Caesar Rodney School District details how Welch flew the plane to 35,000 feet and then went into a hard dive. He reported a slight wing roll and an odd jump in the airspeed indicator. Some witnesses on the ground reported “a noise like thunder from a clear blue sky.”

In the book “Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1,” author Al Blackburn details accounts by some people at the tests who say Welch was the first to break the sound barrier.

North American Aviation aerodynamicist Ed Horkey made a speech in 1994 to the F-86 Sabre Pilots Association and said Welch hit mach 1.02 on Oct. 19, 1947. That would still make Welch second to Yeager, but by only five days instead of six months.

Part of the controversy is because many of the records were classified and have been difficult to find.

A journalist at the Smithsonian magazine, Linda Shiner, researched information for a September 2014 story and concluded that all available records show that Yeager was first on Oct. 14, 1947.

"Between the top secrecy surrounding early supersonic flight and the Air Force’s…record-keeping, it’s still unclear if the J35-powered XP-86 [Welch's plane] got past Mach 1. There is no doubt that the X-1 [Yeager's plane] did,” Shiner wrote.

She said because of the controversy, U.S. Air Force historian Richard Hallion researched the topic and wrote a letter in 2009 to the president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Hallion said, “I have never seen any record or indication that George Welch … ever publicly claimed in any forum (or, so far as I know, to anyone at all) that he exceeded Mach 1 prior to Chuck Yeager.”

Tributes to the hero from Delaware

Welch died while testing a plane for North American Aviation on Oct. 12, 1954. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Delaware honored him with a portrait by Peter Hurd that was hung in Legislative Hall.

In 1962, one of the schools at Dover Air Force Base was dedicated in Welch’s name and is now Maj. George S. Welch Elementary.

“He still deserves the highest military honor our country can award,” Themal wrote.

The staff and students at the school agree, as they remember the WWII hero and continue to push for him to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The school’s principal, Jason Payne, said the Medal of Honor is not only a tribute to the sacrifice of military heroes but it also serves as an example for future generations.

“As our school’s namesake, we feel it is important to celebrate both Major George S. Welch’s accomplishments and inspire our students to strive for greatness, as we are housed on Dover Air Force Base,” Payne said.

He commended Cummings for “a fantastic job” coordinating the observance of Maj. Welch Day and helping to lead the effort to apply for Welch’s medal.

“We are so thankful for all she has done to bring attention to our school’s namesake,” Payne said.

In addition to the birthday ceremony, the staff and students created a “Hallway of Honor” with information about Welch along with classroom lessons and artwork related to Welch and his accomplishments.

State Sen. Eric Buckson and Rep. Lyndon Yearick attended the ceremony and Yearick read a proclamation from the Legislature, ending with, “May 10th is hereby recognized as Major George S. Welch Day to honor and celebrate his service and life as a Delaware-born American hero.”

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Dover students remember WWII pilot with request for ultimate tribute