User:Ironass/Lewis M. Sanders

Lewis M. Sanders (October 24, 1907 – December 22, 1984) was an Army Air Corps first lieutenant assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field on the island of Oahu during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. He was one of the five American pilots to score victories that day. Sanders was awarded a Silver Star for his actions.

Early Life
Sanders was a barnstormer with a flying circus just prior to joining the Air Service. Commissioned in 1936. assigned as Squadron Commander with the 47th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii.

Pearl Harbor Attack
The day before the attack, Sanders had inadvertently taken action on December 6th that saved most of his squadron’s P-36 aircraft from the attack on Wheeler Field the following day. After a military formation on the Wheeler flight line on the morning of the 6th, he directed his men to place their aircraft on the eastern end of the field. During the attack, smoke from the burning planes and hangars drifted over the P-36s and hid them.

As the attack began, Sanders, Second Lt. John M. Thacker, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen and 2nd Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr took off downwind from Wheeler Field in the available P-36s. They circled and headed east and came out over the clouds about a mile east of Bellows Field Sanders saw the six Zeros from the Sōryū and Hiryū below and motioned for the attack.

On the first pass, Sanders attacked the lead plane. The Zero began a slow pull-up to the right and then increased it sharply, stalled and fell out of Sanders' view. Rasmussen, on Thacker's left wing, reported that the Zero was "put out of action at once," and Sanders later was credited with the victory.

Sanders saw Sterling on the tail of one Zero with another one on his tail and closing fast. Sanders got on the end Zero's tail, but but was unable to take that Zero out before he shot Sterling down. After going through a cloud bank and coming out the other side, he assumed that all three went into the sea. Later, Japanese records would show that only Sterling crashed. Not knowing that, Sanders gave Sterling a victory credit for the first Zero.

After Pearl Harbor
He remained as Squadron Commander of the 46th Pursuit Squadron through 1942 then transferred to the 318th Fighter Group as its commander. He participated in the Saipan, Tinian, Guam and Okinawan invasions.

Following World War II
After the war, he attended the first Air Command and Staff College class at Maxwell AFB but suffered a heart attack just prior to graduation and was subsequently retired for disability. On December 7, 1977, Colonel Lew M. Sanders,USAF [Ret.], was a guest speaker for the Air Command and Staff College and received his long-overdue diploma.

Sanders retired in southern Alabama.