John Finn, Medal of Honor Winner, Dies at 100 in Chula Vista Hospital

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 was 100 and had been the oldest living recipient of the medal, the nation’s highest award for valor.

His death was announced by J. P. Tremblay, deputy secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

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. Most of them took place aboard the stricken ships — in some cases efforts by the wounded and the dying to save their fellow sailors. Amid the death and destruction, Chief Finn, on an airfield runway, was waging a war of his own against the Japanese.

A few minutes before 8 o’clock, Japanese planes attacked the Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station, about 12 miles from Battleship Row at Ford Island, hoping to knock out three dozen Navy aircraft before they could get aloft.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28finn.html?src=me

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