John William Finn
July 24, 1909 — Los Angeles, California
John William Finn was a United States Navy Chief Petty Officer and ordnanceman who earned the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, remaining at an exposed machine gun position for over two hours while wounded and under relentless attack, and who lived to be 100 years old, dying in 2010 as the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Pearl Harbor.
A Career Navy Man
Born on July 24, 1909 in Los Angeles, California, John William Finn enlisted in the United States Navy in 1926 at the age of 17, beginning a career that would span more than two decades. By December 1941, he was a Chief Aviation Ordnanceman stationed at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on the eastern coast of Oahu, Hawaii — one of the outlying stations attacked along with Pearl Harbor during the Japanese assault. Kaneohe Bay was actually struck before Pearl Harbor itself; the Japanese hit it in the first wave of the attack at 7:48 a.m. on December 7. Finn's family lived in base housing, and he was at home when the attack began.
December 7, 1941
When the Japanese aircraft began strafing and bombing Kaneohe Bay, Finn set up a .30 caliber machine gun on an instruction platform in the middle of a parking area — an exposed position with no cover whatsoever — and began firing at the attacking aircraft. He remained at this position through both waves of the attack, a period of more than two hours, despite being wounded in multiple places: he was hit in the thumb, the arm, the chest, and in other locations by shrapnel and gunfire. He was repeatedly ordered to seek cover and refused to do so. His citation, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, notes that he manned his position "with complete disregard for his own personal safety" and maintained fire throughout the attack, inspiring other men around him to remain at their posts. He was wounded a total of 21 times before being ordered from his post at the end of the attack.
Did You Know?
After receiving his Medal of Honor wounds, Finn had his wounds treated and returned to duty the same day. He later said that he had been "too mad to be scared." He remained in the Navy through World War II and retired as a Lieutenant in 1956. He moved to a ranch in Pine Valley, California, where he and his wife Alice raised horses and cattle. He regularly attended Pearl Harbor anniversary ceremonies and gave interviews until very near the end of his life, offering some of the most vivid first-hand accounts of the attack in existence. He died on May 27, 2010, at the age of 100.
Last Living Link to Pearl Harbor's Heroes
Finn was awarded the Medal of Honor on September 15, 1942, in a ceremony at Naval Air Station San Diego. In the decades after the war, as Pearl Harbor survivors aged and died, Finn became increasingly significant as a living witness. By the early 2000s, he was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from December 7, 1941, and his continued presence at anniversary events — into his late 90s and early 100s — was treated as a national honour. He was, by his own account, a practical man who did not consider his actions on that morning to have been exceptionally heroic: he had simply done what needed to be done, because he was there and he was a Navy man. He died on May 27, 2010, two months before his 101st birthday, at his home in Pine Valley, California. With his death, the last living link to the Medal of Honor recipients of Pearl Harbor was gone.