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LT.JG James G. Daniels
Daniels was one of the three Navy Fighter Pilots who survived "friendly anti-aircraft fire" December 7th, 1941. He was one of about two dozen fighter pilots who took off at dusk from the aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise looking for the the Japanese attack fleet. Unable to find the enemy the strike group returned to the carrier, but six VF-6 pilots, including Daniels, were directed to Oahu.
Although the arrival of the six fighters had been repeatedly broadcast to all ships and units someone panicked when they heard the sounds of appraching aircraft shortly after 9 p.m. just as the six pilots lowered their landing gear and entered the Ford Island landing pattern, the sky was alive with tracer fire.
Daniels was the only one of six to land his F4F-3A "Wildcat" fighter on Ford Island. Three of the six were shot down and killed, one landed on a golf course on Ford Island; another's plane ran out of fuel and he had to prachute near Barpers Point.
He logged 4,500 hours, mostly as an attack carrier pilot, with 110 combat missions in World War II and Korea. He retired in 1970 with more than 33 years of service.
He was the son of New Mexico state Senator Morris Daniels and the only pilot in the air when World War II started and in the air off Tokyo when the war ended in 1945.