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May 29, 2010
-John William Finn died at age 100 on the morning of May 27, 2010, at
the Chula Vista Veterans Home. He was the last surviving Medal of Honor
recipient from the attack on Finn was born
on July 23, 1909, he served as a United States Navy Chief Petty Officer
who received the |
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Finn was
stationed at
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Finn was at his home, about a mile from the aircraft hangars, when he heard the sound of gunfire. Finn recalled how a neighbor was the first to alert him, when she knocked on his door saying, "They want you down at the squadron right away!" He drove to the hangars (seeing Japanese planes in the sky on the way) and found that the airbase was being attacked, with most of the PBYs already on fire. His men were trying to fight back by using the machine guns mounted in the PBYs, either by firing from inside the flaming planes or by detaching the guns and mounting them on improvised stands. Finn explained one of the first things he did was take control of a machine gun from his squadron's painter. "I said, 'Alex, let me take that gun'...knew that I had more experience firing a machine gun than a painter." Finn then found a movable platform used for gunnery training, attached the .50 caliber machine gun, and pushed the platform into an open area, from which he had a clear view of the attacking aircraft. He fired on the Japanese planes for the next two hours, even after being seriously wounded, until the attack had ended. In total, he received 21 distinct wounds, including a bullet through the foot and an injury which caused him to lose feeling in his left arm. "I got that gun and I started shooting at Jap
planes," Finn said. "I was out there shooting the Jap planes and just
every so often I was a target for some," he said, "in some cases, I
could see the Japanese pilots' faces." Despite wounds, he returned to the hangars later
that day, after receiving medical treatment, and helped arm the
surviving American planes. For these actions, Finn was formally
presented with the Medal of Honor on September 14, 1942, by Admiral
Chester Nimitz. The ceremony occurred in |
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