WWII pilot recalls being shot down

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - Because of Mobile's connection to the HBO miniseries 'The Pacific' FOX10 News has been interviewing local veterans and sharing their stories of courage with you. Thursday, FOX10 News reporter John Rogers spoke with a Navy fighter pilot who earned two Navy crosses, the Navy's highest honor.

This weekend, HBO will premiere a ten-part miniseries called 'The Pacific', which will share powerful World War II stories that are not often told.

Right near Gene Hanson's Pensacola kitchen, there's a small wall with a long life's worth of honors. The retired Navy captain served a proud career as a pilot, and has the medals and plaques to prove it. But they certainly didn't come cheap.

"To this day, I still feel like I'm on borrowed time, and I'm nearly 93-years-old," Hanson said.

Hanson was a Navy torpedo bomber, a member of Torpedo Squadron 8. The planes would fly right into combat, dropping torpedoes toward Japanese ships.

He earned his stripes at the Battle of Guadalcanal. This was an effort to stop the Japanese from inching closer to Australia. During one fight, Hanson was about to torpedo a Japanese ship, when he realized he had some company.

"I was attacked by Japanese zero fighters on the way in," he said. "So I pulled my nose up on the airplane, tried to head right toward him, trying to fire my 30 caliber machine gun, and he actually moved out of the way. I scared him."

Hanson and his fellow pilots torpedoed the ship, and it soon caught fire.

"We considered it a successful mission," Hanson added.

But he wasn't always as lucky. Later in the battle, during a bombing run, he was attacked again.

"I took a direct hit right into the engine," he said.

He directed his plane toward the water.

"And I crashed! One wheel was hanging and the airplane went like this on its back. I was able to get out, and my two crewmen were able to get out," he said.

But then he saw the two crewmen dive underwater toward the plane.

"I didn't know what was going on here. So when they came back up I said, 'What's up? I see you diving down.' They said, 'Major Mahoney was in the second seat!'" Hanson recalled.

Mahoney was their squadron commander.

"He wasn't checked out in the airplane, we didn't have any communication with him, I didn't know he was in the airplane. So he went down with the airplane. And to this day, I still feel bad about it," Hanson said regrettably. "At least I could have tried. I hope you understand how I feel."

By the end of the war, Torpedo Squadron 8 was one of the most decorated squadrons in the Navy. But he thinks back to other men who also deserved it, but never arrived home.

"I will never forget those 52 guys who didn't come back. They're still on my mind. I could have been one of them," Hanson said.

Today, he's a living legend, but Hanson just sees himself as a lucky man who did his duty.

Hanson said the Battle of Guadalcanal was grim and it looked like the U.S. was going to lose. At one point, Hanson and his fellow Navy pilots were ready to pick up guns and fight on the ground alongside the Marines.

But the Marines pressed on, and soon the United States won that battle, which was a big turning point in the war.