The 15 men who earned the Medal of Honor during the Pearl Harbor attacks

Unto the Breach ^ | Dec. 7, 2017 | Chris Carter

[fugazi]

On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo’s 1st Air Fleet begins their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Two waves of aircraft strike the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor, as well as bases across Hawaii. Five of the eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships are either sunk or severely damaged. By day’s end, 2,718 American sailors, 582 soldiers (including Army Air Forces personnel), 178 Marines, and 103 civilians are dead, dying or wounded.

In a day full of countless acts of American bravery and sacrifice, 15 men and officers of the U.S. Navy earned the Medal of Honor – 11 posthumously – during the battle. Here are the accounts of their actions.

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to John William Finn for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For extraordinary heroism distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lt. Finn promptly secured and manned a .50-caliber machinegun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machinegun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times,

[Mears]

You should be proud of her-—as the saying goes,”They also serve who only stand and wait”.

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[stylin19a]

Brokaw really makes a credible case for these people. He calls them “the greatest generation any society has ever produced”
He starts his Greatest Generation with the folks who lived during the depression then went to war and ends with what they did post war.
Thanks. I think I’ll read the book again.

[sasportas]

I’ve only heard about his book, I haven’t read it. Like most of the prime time news anchors, Brokaw one of them, all of them leftists, I didn’t have any desire to read his book. But from what you say he says about the greatest generation, maybe I should have. Sounds like Brokaw confirmed what I already knew.

[jmacusa]

Yeah, but what generation of Americans were ever called on to do so much, nothing less then save the world?. The Second World War was the single most cataclysmic, ferocious, life altering event in human history. Every America man, woman and child rose to the occasion and America's true character , it's moral authority and colossal industrial might destroyed the most evil and malignant forces ever to threaten the peace of the world.