The Sorority Sister and the Pilot

I first met Ruth Cope at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. She and her husband Bill volunteered there every Friday morning signing books about the Women’s Air Raid Defense and aviation histories of World War II. I had previously talked to Ruth by phone; she sent me photographs of and articles about herself, but we didn’t come face to face until May 2002. I spotted her sitting at a table in the atrium right outside the book store. She and Bill were wearing the teal Pearl Harbor volunteer shirts and Ruth had on her signature snap-peaked white cap. I waited in line to talk to her. The line was twenty deep but seemed never ending; so many people wanted to take pictures with them, and ask detailed questions about December 7, 1941.

When I finally got to the front of the line, I introduced myself to Ruth. On the phone, Ruth’s voice had sounded strong, with the gravely undertones of a lifelong smoker. In person, she looked frail, her skin mottled with bruises and her bones protruded from sun-leathered arms, but her eyes were intensely clear, and her smile was warm and welcoming. She took my hand into hers and asked, “So, dear, what do you want to know?”

She told Bill she was taking a break to talk to me and he said, “Just as long as your friend leaves me her phone number and hotel key.” Ruth turned to me and said, “He’s still my ‘Bad Billy.’”



PHOTO: Ruth and Bill at a World War II survivors conference.

Ruth and I walked to a bench at the edge of the harbor. She began her story by looking over to her husband. “It’s really a story about Bill and me. Our love story is better than any in the movies.” And it is. We talked, interrupted by tourists asking questions from directions to the restrooms to her memories of World War II. “It’s non-stop the whole time we’re here,” Ruth said. “Sometimes I sign so many books, my hands cramp the next day and since 9-11, the interest in the attack on Pearl Harbor has rekindled. Bill and I are grateful to tell them the story. It’s so important.”

I tried to explain my project, but tourists kept interrupting us asking Ruth general directions, asking if she was a tour guide, asking if she was at Pearl Harbor on December 7. Ruth and I gave up on having a private conversation; we set up a date to meet for lunch—both of us and our husbands at a restaurant overlooking Honolulu Harbor.

The story of Bill and Ruth Cope will be continued in the next blog.


PHOTO top left: This is Ruth when she is leaving the islands. Among the women she is posing with are fellow WARD members who are returning to the mainland.
PHOTO top right: Bill and Ruth at the Arizona Memorial.

Phil Rasmussen, Hero, Friend, Best Man, and "Pajama Pilot"

The story of Phil Rasmussen is told in this blog from the perspective of being a friend of Ruth and Bill Cope. But, before connecting the dots in Honolulu of 1941, let's take a look at what Phil did on December 7, 1941.

Lt. Rasmussen awoke in his barracks to see a group of Japanese airplanes dropping bombs on the air field. He strapped his .45 caliber pistol to the outside of his pajamas and ran to get an airplane. (Yes, that's a big hint as to why he was called the "Pajama Pilot" for a few years.)

In the midst of the attack and smoking American planes, Phil Rasmussen found an unscathed P-36 Hawk and taxied it to a revetment where he had it loaded with ammunition. During a lull in the bombing, he took off with three other pilots and were radioed orders to fly to Kaneohe Bay on the windward side of the island.

Despite having a jammed .30 caliber gun and only limited capability with his .50 caliber gun, Lt. Rasmussen managed to shoot down a Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Several other Japanese pilots instantly attacked, including one who was having mechanical trouble, and thinking himself doomed, tried to ram Rasmussen. (The Japanese pilot made it back to his aircraft carrier and survived the war.)

Rasmussen's plane was badly damaged, so he dove into a cloud to escape—a dangerous maneuver considering the fact the Koolau Mountains cradle Kaneohe Bay and the Kaneohe Naval Air Stations. When Phil did manage to get back to Wheeler, he landed with no brakes, rudder, or tailwheel.

If you ever visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force (at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio) check out the World War II exhibit. There's a mannequin of a pajama-clad pilot climbing into a P-36 Hawk. The exhibit details Lt. Rasmussen's exploits that day and is informally titled "The Pajama Pilot."


A few weeks after the attack, Ruth wrote to her sorority sisters in California, “Phil is quite the hero. His photograph is on the front pages of the newspapers. His plane is really a sight. They shot everywhere else but his gas tank. We lost Gordon though, but not until he had gotten his man.”

(Oral accounts of the number of bullet holes in the plane vary, but most give a figure of about 500 times.)


(Gordon Sterling was shot down over Kailua Bay after being credited with downing one Japanese plane.)

PHOTO top: Phil Rasmussen at Flight School. (U.S.A.F. Museum)
PHOTO top left: Could be Bill Cope and Phil Rasmussen. When I met Bill and Ruth they were staunchly in their 80's and weren't sure that this was Bill. (Personal collection)
PHOTO center: Rasmussen posing with his battered plane.

Ken Taylor, Reluctant Hero

The following photos are of Lt. Ken Taylor during World War II, of Ben Affleck portraying Taylor in the movie PEARL HARBOR. And, the photo below is of retired General K. Taylor.

Ken Taylor was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and was designated as one of the first War Heroes of World War II. He and Lt. George Welch, got up in the air with odds of 300 Japanese planes to 1 American plane. Each time Taylor told the story, he underplayed it, saying "It was like shooting fish in a barrel. . . the Japanese planes were flying in facing the sun and all I had to do was aim and start firing."

Taylor flew two flights above Oahu that day. During the second, a Japanese bullet hit within an inch of his head, exploded in the cockpit with one piece going into his left arm. When Taylor was asked about being hit, he more often than not, focused on the bullet fragments that ruined his tux pants that he pulled on when the Japanese attacked Wheeler Field where he and George Welch were asleep in the officer's quarters.

Ken Taylor had another role during the war with his connection with the Women's Air Raid Defense. When I tell their (the WARD) story, (including that of Ruth Cope and Kathy Cooper) he will become central. Taylor was young, bright, enthusiastic and a supporter of radar. He was a good officer but made his points clear, and one point was that Oahu needed an adequate radar system and it needed it immediately. Taylor also was one of the supporters of using civilian women to staff as "Shuffleboard Pilots" in the radar room.

A. Kam Napier and Candace Chenoweth wrote SHUFFLEBOARD PILOTS. It's the most complete history of the WARD. There's a photo of Ruth Cope on page 58, but it's mislabeled. She's the woman dead center. Kathy Cooper has a few photos in there, too.

The photos are of Kenneth M. Taylor, and of Taylor being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

For most of his life, Taylor avoided media attention, although he did serve as a consultant for TORA! TORA! TORA! In this movie, Taylor is portrayed by actor Carl Reindel(It's one of the three movies I suggest watching.) Interestingly, although Ben Affleck played Taylor in the movie PEARL HARBOR, Taylor was not consulted or called. (That's one of the movies I suggest not watching.)

Brigadier General Kenneth M. Taylor died of natural causes in November 2006 in Tuscon, Arizona.