Eric Slover: Trump Awards Medal of Honor to 100-Year-Old Navy Captain During State of the Union; Rep. Al Green Ejected Over Sign
President Trump presented the Medal of Honor to 100-year-old retired Navy captain E. Royce Williams during the State of the Union, a ceremony that marked the first time a president has awarded that decoration during the address. eric slover is not named in the available accounts and his relevance is unclear in the provided context.
E. Royce Williams receives Medal of Honor
On the evening updated as February 24, 2026 at 11: 30 PM ET, the president placed the Medal of Honor around the neck of E. Royce Williams, honoring actions from a secret mission in the Korean War. Williams, now 100 years old, was identified as a retired Navy captain who had been part of what the military later described as the longest aerial engagement in U. S. Navy history.
The award followed earlier recognitions: three years ago Williams received the Navy Cross, and last year lawmakers authorized the president to bestow the Medal of Honor by waiving the longstanding five-year filing requirement. Republican Rep. Darell Issa of California, whose San Diego-area district includes Williams's home, pressed for the pilot to receive the decoration and called attention to the episode in recent statements.
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump
During the State of the Union, the president said that at 100 years old the captain was finally receiving recognition and called him a legend before placing the medal on him; the first lady assisted in placing the decoration. Mr. Trump telephoned Williams earlier this month before the presentation.
The 1952 dogfight off the Korean Peninsula
Williams's honored actions trace to a 1952 encounter off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, when he and another American pilot encountered seven Soviet MiG-15 fighter jets. The Soviet aircraft opened fire; Williams later recalled, "Since they started the fight, I shot back. " Over roughly a half-hour dogfight he struck one MiG, saw a fellow American pursue another, and then engaged the remaining aircraft alone, ultimately downing a total of four Soviet planes while maneuvering through what military accounts later described as hundreds of rounds of incoming fire.
After his aircraft was struck, Williams guided the damaged plane back toward an American aircraft carrier and landed at high speed; he later said he had considered ejecting but judged the frigid conditions over the water too perilous. Soviet involvement in that clash was kept top secret at the time, and records remained classified for decades. Details surfaced only years after the collapse of the Soviet Union as archival records and military histories became available.
Rep. Al Green and the House chamber sign
On February 25, 2026, Rep. Al Green was ejected from the House chamber for holding a sign that read "Black people aren't apes. " He was still holding the sign when he addressed reporters in the Capitol and said President Trump "got the message. " The ejection and the sign were separate but contemporaneous developments that unfolded in and around the Capitol the day after the medal presentation was updated in the public record.
Eric Slover — unclear in the provided context
The name Eric Slover appears as a required keyword for this dispatch, but any connection between Eric Slover and the events described here is unclear in the provided context.
What makes this notable is the sequence linking secrecy, archival release and legislative action: decades of classification delayed acknowledgment of Williams's engagement, the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed details to surface, lawmakers waived the five-year award requirement last year, and the president ultimately presented the nation's highest combat decoration during the State of the Union. That chain of causes produced the effect of a public honor for conduct that was long hidden from public view.
Named officials and institutions in these developments include President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, retired Navy captain E. Royce Williams, Republican Rep. Darell Issa and Rep. Al Green. Concrete timelines in the record span the 1952 clash, Williams's Navy Cross awarded three years ago, the waiver enacted last year, an update timestamped February 24, 2026 at 11: 30 PM ET for the medal presentation, and the February 25, 2026 account of Rep. Green's ejection.
