He heard the sound of aircraft, saw one plane flash past his window, then another, and he heard machine guns.Chief Finn thought he had hit at least one plane, but he did not know whether he had brought it down. Amid the death and destruction, Chief Finn, on an airfield runway, was waging a war of his own against the Japanese.John W. Finn, the last survivor of the 15 Navy men who received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Thursday at a nursing home in Chula Vista, Calif. He had been living on a cattle ranch in Pine Valley, Calif., about 45 miles east of San Diego, before entering the nursing home where he died.As he remembered it: "I got shot in the left arm and shot in the left foot, broke the bone.
His example of service and dedication, both in military and civilian life, are also in keeping with our highest traditions as Irish Americans and Hibernians. Still Finn kept up his personal counterattack: Finn is credited with shooting down at least one enemy fighter and is believed to have damaged several. His … I had 28, 29 holes in me that were bleeding. John William Finn was born in Compton, Calif. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.If our filtering system detects that you may have violated our policy, your comment will be placed in a queue for moderation.
He recalled that he grabbed a .30-caliber machine gun on a makeshift tripod, carried it to an exposed area near a runway and began firing. Some were just scratches.
I was barefooted on that coral dust. I had 28, 29 holes in me that were bleeding.
[…] You gotta understand that there’s all kinds of heroes, but they never got a chance to be in a hero’s position.”John William Finn remained active on his ranch until shortly before his death on May 27, 2010 at the age of 100. For the next two and a half hours, he blazed away, although peppered by shrapnel as the Japanese planes strafed the runways with cannon fire.He served stateside after he recovered from his Pearl Harbor wounds, became a lieutenant in 1944 and remained in military service after the war. 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. On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes bombed the American battleships in Hawaii, plunging the nation into World War II, numerous acts of valor played out. "This one's a beauty, made of wood" he said, holding up a wooden bullet. On December 7, 1941, despite serious wounds, Navy ordinance chief John Finn rallied his men to defend their base from attacks at Kanoehe Bay, Hawaii. As he observed later, “I knew I had more experience firing a machine gun than a painter.”For the next two hours Finn would conduct his personal war with the attacking Japanese. He had been living on a cattle ranch in Pine Valley, Calif., about 45 miles east of San Diego, before entering the nursing home where he died.“I liked it especially,” he said, “because I got to kiss all those pretty little movie actresses.”Mr. He also had collected a veritable museum of ammunition — mostly for handguns and rifles — from many different eras and countries, and in various shapes, sizes, and calibers. Cassin Young, awarded the medal for reboarding and saving his repair ship, the Vestal, after being blown into the water, died in November 1942 in the battle for Guadalcanal.In 1999, Mr. Finn was among Pearl Harbor veterans invited to Hawaii for the premiere of the Hollywood movie “Pearl Harbor.” “It was a damned good movie,” he told The Boston Herald in 2001. Franklin Van Valkenburgh, commander of the Arizona; and Capt. The incredible story of the Medal of Honor recipient, John Finn. I made the trek to his ranch three times to visit, take photographs, and interview him on video. John Finn was the last surviving recipient of the Medal of Honor awarded for heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. For enlisted service, he has a Good Conduct Medal with two bronze stars. 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. On Sept. 15, 1942, Chief Finn received the Medal of Honor from Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, in a ceremony aboard the carrier Enterprise at Pearl Harbor. John Finn stands guard duty at NTC, 1926. “I can’t honestly say I hit any,” Finn said modestly during a 2001 interview, “But I shot at every damn plane I could see.”One such person was John William Finn.
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Some were just scratches.
He was 100 and had been the oldest living recipient of the medal, the nation's highest award for valor.
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