Posted by
Saltwater on Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:30:32 PM
John William Finn, the oldest of only 96 living Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, turns 100 on July 23, 2009. John Finn is the last survivor among the fifteen men who earned the Medal of Honor for their valor during the December 7, 1941 attack on military installations in and around Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Finn is also often recognized as the first person to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II, because the attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kanoehe Bay began about five minutes before the first bombs fell at Pearl Harbor.
Medal of Honor Citation:
For extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kanoehe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lieutenant Finn promptly secured and manned a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machine-gun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy's fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first-aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Note: I use the term "earned" for good reason. The Medal of Honor is not "won" like some trinket from a carnival booth.
Dennis P. O'Neil