Retired Navy Capt. Lee “Paul” Mankin recently met with students attending class at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Whidbey Island Campus. Mankin has the distinction of being the only enlisted pilot to shoot down five enemy aircraft during World War II.

Accompanied by his wife Nada, Mankin spent several hours discussing fascinating personal accounts of dogfights and battles while serving in the Pacific Theater. In 1942, Mankin was assigned as a Pilot First Class at Navy Fighter Squadron VF-5. The squadron arrived at Guadalcanal from the carrier USS Saratoga, which had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

He shot down his first enemy aircraft over Guadalcanal — a Japanese “Betty” bomber — while piloting a Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter.  In the two months that ensued, Mankin would shoot down four more Japanese fighter and bomber aircraft, earning him the coveted “Ace” title.  It was only after becoming a flying ace that Mankin accepted a commission as a naval officer.

Mankin’s personal accounts of battle are far more captivating than even the finest Hollywood wartime action movies. The difference is that Mankin was actually there in body, mind and spirit. He had the tail of his Wildcat shot off by an enemy aircraft. He was shot at by a Japanese tail gunner and had a bullet lodged in his boot, but escaped without injury.

He was eating chow with a Marine Sergeant when a Japanese sniper’s bullet hit the middle of the table between them.

“I didn’t see the guy,” said Mankin, “but the sergeant did.  He looked up into the trees, and there was a Japanese man up there.  And the Marine shot him.”

Mankin later survived the only sinking of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Atlantic, the USS Block Island, after it was struck by German torpedoes. 

The students were glued to Mankin’s every word – and there was no shortage of questions.  When asked by a student, “The first time that you were going up against the Japanese, what was going through your mind?  What were some of your thoughts and feelings?  Were you scared, were you excited?”

Mankin replied, “The first time against the Japanese, the first one I ever saw, was when six of us went north to find the incoming bombers that were going to try to hit the ships that landed the Marines.”

He explained that the leader of his six-man group split them into two groups of three aircraft that went in opposite directions.  “And those were the three that were shot down, right off the bat,” said Mankin. “It just so happened that the zeros that were escorting the bombers pretty much went after those three, instead of we three.  Had all the Japanese fighters come after us, instead of those three, then I may not be here telling you this story.  But I didn’t feel anything particularly. My biggest thought, I suppose, was I want to get one.  I didn’t have any fear of it.”

Mankin recounted the time when he took part in an aerial strafing attack on a 200-man enemy invasion that was heading for Guadalcanal.

“I wrote an article for the American Fighter Aces Association, oh, a long time ago, and the article was, ‘We Had a Real Good Day Today,’ he said. “We lost no pilots.  We lost no planes.  And the Japanese lost 200 men. That was a good day.”

Mankin’s vivid portrayal of the events of WWII was deeply emotional and captured the finest images of the American fighting spirit. The students, faculty and staff of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University consider him a true American hero and a national treasure, and welcome him back any time.