Posted on 05/27/2010 12:30:31 PM PDT by South40
John Finn, the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, died Thursday morning at the age of 100 at the Chula Vista Veterans Home.
He was stationed at Keneohe Bay Naval Air Station on Dec. 7, 1941 when he found himself firing at Japanese planes from an exposed position at Pearl Harbor for more than two hours despite being hit 21 times by bomb and bullet fragments.
The longtime East County resident was credited by some with single-handedly shooting down a Japanese aircraft but he would later say “I can’t honestly say I hit any, but I shot at every damn plane I could see.”
Friends and fellow veterans said Lt. Finn was a rock star in military circles. People clamored for a handshake or to have a picture taken with him wherever he went. Fellow Medal of Honor recipient John Kelley said Lt. Finn was a big hit at a Veterans Day event in Massachusetts last year.
“He’s kind of a legend,” Kelley said. “He was a very warm person and had a phenomenal memory. He could remember everything and tell stories and not repeat himself. He made everyone who met him feel like they were the most important person in the world.”
He grew up near Los Angeles and had been in the Navy 15 years by the time he was stationed in Hawaii. He left the Navy as a lieutenant in 1947 after 21 years of service because he dreaded having to assume a ship command, according to a 1984 interview with the San Diego Union.
He downplayed his heroic efforts during World War II and said he was just doing his job. “I read about other guys with the medal who lost their lives or really suffered in wars and I think about myself. I was just an uneducated man who got mad as hell one day,” he said in 1984.
Funeral services are pending.
Rest in peace, soldier. Thank you for your service.
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God bless him and his fellows. We are a grateful nation.
There is brave, really brave, and down right scary brave.
Still shooting after 21 hits .... definitely falls into the category of down right scary brave.
PRESENT ARMS
Go to your rest sir, you have earned it.
This generation needs to get as mad as John Finn did that Dec day. Thank you Lt. Flinn. You, sir, are a true-life hero. RIP.
I wish we could make a deal with God to keep people like Mr. Finn and have him take back dopes like Obama.
The greatest generation lost an icon. We all lost a hero too.
Remind someone this weekend that heroes don't shoot baskets from the free throw line.
“I was just an uneducated man who got mad as hell one day”
I hope that people around the world understand this simple statement. When Americans get mad, we will do what needs to be done. Some like John Finn, are really hard to stop.
Chesty Puller will have an honor guard waiting at the gates.
A credit to the Navy and John Browning.
It’s an incredibly simple but immensely poignant statement to be made about the Greatest Generation. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that the present generations have any intestinal fortitude for war, and if it came down to it, I fear America would be on the losing side this time. We’ve turned into a bunch of barrel-assed video game addicts who don’t understand the meaning of the freedoms we have.
We’ve truly lost a great hero in John Finn.
Beyond brave and modest about it. Truly a hero! My Father was in the Scholfield Barracks during the attack. He wouldn’t talk about it either. These guys saw so much with the depression, WWll, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War they usually just as soon forget about it and move on. They’ve dealt with so much that I don’t complain about anything. I have nothing to complain about because of guys like this. We have to hold onto the Republic this November. The sacrifices that brave men and women have endured makes it an absolute necessity.
RIP.
“..just doing his job” .. under fire, Right. ;-]
RIP Lt. John Finn
I’m very familiar with the area. On hiway 80 leaving the casino going towards I-8 there is a sign dedicating that section to John Finn.
It is a nice area. I lived there for nearly a year back in 1991. That was well before the Golden Acorn. I could and did shoot my guns from my back porch and hunted deer with my Campo Indian friends. I first met Mr. Finn back then, having been intruduced by my sister to all her friends at a New Year’s eve party. She’s been there since 1979 and knows everyone. I visit often and really enjoy my time there. But it has changed... a lot.
We have great troops, this is still America. It's the crap in the Whitehouse we should be ashamed of. There are more John Finns out there. John Finn had a keen sense for Situational Awareness and field expediency.
God Bless you John Finn and R.I.P.
Does your sister know of any local plans for a memorial service?
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