American Valor Quarterly Issue 9 - Summer 2012 | Page 21

In My Sights
By Colonel James B. Morehead

World War II is remembered as a terrible
conflict that ultimately ended in triumph,
but the United States may not have won
the war were it not for a handful of pilots
who stopped the Imperial Japanese
military juggernaut in its dark early days.

Leon J. Delisle Collection

James B. Morehead was one of those
pilots, flying a P-40 fighter deployed to
the South Pacific in February 1942. He
flew combat missions over a three-year
span of the war and became an “ace”
with a total of eight aerial victories. His
service during the war, battling both the
Japanese and the Germans, earned him
accolades for action and courage in
combat.
Morehead’s road to becoming one of the
most acclaimed aviators of the war was
far from an easy one. Born in Paoli, Okla.,

he grew up during the Great
Depression,which hit his family hard.
After a troubled childhood, he left home
at just 17 but returned a year later. With
money he earned from working his
family’s farm,