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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/27/john-finn-hero-at-pearl-harbor-dies-at-100/
John Finn, hero at Pearl Harbor, dies at 100
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.
John Finn, hero at Pearl Harbor, dies at 100
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.
