Jesse Junior Taylor (16 January 1925 – 17 November 1965) was a United States Navy naval aviator, Lieutenant Commander during the Vietnam War.

Over the following four months, VB-11 carried out a highly successful combat tour, flying 490 strike sorties against a variety of enemy targets in the Pacific.

[2] Following his reentry into civilian life, he attended Long Beach City College for two years before going to work with several private concerns in the Los Angeles area.

Commissioned an ensign in May 1952, he went on to receive further training until he joined Composite Squadron Four (VC-4) in January 1953 as a replacement pilot and Maintenance and Material Officer.

[2] Detached from that duty in July 1955, he then served as Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) instructor on the Los Angeles campus of the University of California.

Promoted to lieutenant commander while serving with the squadron, he then attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, for one year.

Anti-aircraft fire had downed one of the attacking aircraft and its pilot had ejected from his doomed plane in a densely populated and heavily defended area.

Although it was not his assigned mission, realizing that time was of the essence in any attempt to rescue the downed pilot, Taylor made a courageous decision.

[2] Despite intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire, Taylor proceeded to the scene and found the downed pilot still in his parachute harness in shallow water.

[2] For his heroic determination to save a fellow pilot, even at great risk to his own life, Commander Taylor was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.