James H . Howard James Howell Howard ( April 13 , 1913 – March 18 , 1995 ) was a general in the United States Air Force and the only fighter pilot in the European Theater of Operations in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor — the United States military ' s highest decoration . CBS commentator Andy Rooney , then a wartime reporter for " Stars and Stripes " , called Howard ' s exploits " the greatest fighter pilot story of World War II " . In later life , Howard was a successful businessman , author , and airport director . Early life . Born on April 13 , 1913 , in Canton ( now Guangzhou ) , China , where his American parents lived at the time while his ophthalmologist father was teaching eye surgery there , Howard returned with his family to St . Louis , Missouri in 1927 . After graduating from John Burroughs School in St . Louis , he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College in Claremont , California in 1937 , intending to follow his father ' s footsteps into medicine . Shortly before graduation , however , Howard decided that the life of a Naval Aviator was more appealing than six years of medical school and internship , and he entered the United States Navy as a naval aviation cadet . He began his flight training in January 1938 at Naval Air Station Pensacola , earning his wings the following January in 1939 . Military service . Howard initially was a U . S . Navy pilot aboard the aircraft carrier , based at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , beginning in 1939 . In June 1941 , he left the Navy to become a P - 40 fighter pilot with the American Volunteer Group ( AVG ) , the famous Flying Tigers in Burma . He flew 56 missions and was credited with shooting down six Japanese airplanes . Following the disbandment of the Flying Tigers on July 4 , 1942 , Howard returned to the U . S . and was commissioned a captain in the Army Air Force . In 1943 , he was promoted to the rank of major and given command of the 356th Fighter Squadron in the 354th Fighter Group , based in the United Kingdom . On January 11 , 1944 , Howard single - handedly flew his P - 51 into some thirty Luftwaffe fighters that were attacking a formation of American B - 17 Flying Fortress bombers over Oschersleben , Germany . For more than a half - hour , Howard defended the heavy bombers of the 401st Bomb Group against the swarm of Luftwaffe fighters , repeatedly attacking the enemy airplanes and shooting down as many as six . The leader of the bomber formation later reported that , " For sheer determination and guts , it was the greatest exhibition I ' ve ever seen . It was a case of one lone American against what seemed to be the entire Luftwaffe . He was all over the wing , across and around it . They can ' t give that boy a big enough award . " The following week , the Air Force held a press conference in London at which Major Howard described the attack to reporters , including the BBC , the Associated Press , CBS reporter Walter Cronkite , and Andy Rooney , then a reporter for " Stars and Stripes " . The story was a media sensation , prompting articles such as " Mustang Whip " in the " Saturday Evening Post " , " Fighting at 425 Miles Per Hour " in " Popular Science " , and " One Man Air Force " in " True " magazine . " The New York Times " reported on January 19 , 1944 , that after Howard ' s P - 51 ran out of ammunition , he continued to dive on enemy airplanes . " An attack by a single fighter on four or five times his own number wasn ' t uncommon , " wrote a fellow World War II fighter pilot in his postwar memoirs of Howard ' s performance , " but a deliberate attack by a single fighter against thirty plus enemy fighters without tactical advantage of height or surprise is rare almost to the point of extinction . " The following month , Howard was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and in June 1944 , he was presented the Medal of Honor by General Carl Spaatz for his January 11 valor . In early 1945 , Howard was promoted to full Colonel and assigned as base commander of Pinellas Army Airfield ( now St . Petersburg - Clearwater International Airport ) in Florida . With the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate service in 1947 , then - Colonel Howard was transferred to the Air Force In 1948 , he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the U . S . Air Force , commanding the reserve 96th Bomb Wing . Medal of Honor citation . The citation accompanying the Medal of Honor ( often called the " Congressional Medal of Honor " ) awarded to Lieutenant Colonel James H . Howard on 5 June 1944 , by Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz reads : " For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Oschersleben , Germany , on 11 January 1944 . On that day Col . Howard was the leader of a group of P - 51 aircraft providing support for a heavy bomber formation on a long - range mission deep in enemy territory . As Col . Howard ' s group met the bombers in the target area the bomber force was attacked by numerous enemy fighters . Col . Howard , with his group , at once engaged the enemy and himself destroyed a German ME . 110 . As a result of this attack Col . Howard lost contact with his group , and at once returned to the level of the bomber formation . He then saw that the bombers were being heavily attacked by enemy airplanes and that no other friendly fighters were at hand . While Col . Howard could have waited to attempt to assemble his group before engaging the enemy , he chose instead to attack single - handed a formation of more than 30 German airplanes . With utter disregard for his own safety he immediately pressed home determined attacks for some 30 minutes , during which time he destroyed 3 enemy airplanes and probably destroyed and damaged others . Toward the end of this engagement 3 of his guns went out of action and his fuel supply was becoming dangerously low . Despite these handicaps and the almost insuperable odds against him , Col . Howard continued his aggressive action in an attempt to protect the bombers from the numerous fighters . His skill , courage , and intrepidity on this occasion set an example of heroism which will be an inspiration to the U . S . Armed Forces " . Later years . As a civilian after the war , Howard was Director of Aeronautics for St . Louis , Missouri , managing Lambert Field while maintaining his military status as a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve . He later founded Howard Research , a systems engineering business , which he eventually sold to Control Data Corporation . He married Mary Balles in 1948 in a military wedding ceremony . In later years , they were divorced and Howard then married Florence Buteau . In the 1970s , Howard retired to Belleair Bluffs in Pinellas County , Florida . In 1991 , he wrote an autobiography , " Roar of the Tiger " , chiefly devoted to his wartime experiences . On January 11 , 1994 , the 50th anniversary of the Oschlersleben attack , the Board of County Commissioners in Pinellas County proclaimed " General Howard Day " and presented him with a plaque . A permanent exhibit honoring General Howard was also unveiled in the terminal building of the county ' s St . Petersburg - Clearwater International Airport . Another exhibit paying tribute to Howard was subsequently dedicated at his alma mater , the John Burroughs School in St . Louis . On January 27 , 1995 , Howard made his last public appearance when he was guest of honor at the annual banquet of the West Central Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America , in Clearwater , Florida . He died six weeks later at the nearby Bay Pines Veterans Hospital and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery , survived by two sisters .