A couple of years ago I took a trip with Debbie, Steve, Lisa, Vicki and Juan to Oahu. We originally were going to see U2 perform, but U2 sadly cancelled their show. Due to poor weather, we spent most of the trip travelling around the island getting a personal tour from my parents, who used to live there. It ended up being a really special trip doing things I wouldn’t normally do in Hawaii.
One of the things we did, was go visit the USS Arizona Memorial. Always a sobering experience of history, I was able to learn more personal information about the day and the people of December 7, 1941.
On each of our tickets was biographical information about someone involved. I saved three of these tickets and today being December 7th, I’d like to acknowledge these brave men and women again.
John William Finn
Los Angeles, California
Chief Aviation Ordnance Man
United States Navy
Kaneohe Naval Air Station
For extraordinary heroism…
Chief Finn promptly secured and manned a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the ramp which was under heavy enemy machine gun fire…Painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy bombing and strafing attacks.
…received the Medal of Honor
James G. Daniels III
Kansas City, Missouri
Ensign
United States Navy Aviator
USS Enterprise
Wing and a Prayer
On the evening of December 7, 1941, Ensign Daniels was part of an air search comprised of six F4F “Wildcat” fighters. Their mission was to locate the Japanese Fleet. Unable to find the enemy, they were ordered to land on Oahu. On arrival at Pearl Harbor, they were mistaken for the enemy and five of the six aircraft were shot down. Two pilots were killed instantly, one died later and three survived, including Ensign Daniels. He was the only pilot to land safely at the naval station on Ford Island. After his harrowing experience, he called to tell his wife, Helen, that he was okay and very much alive.
Doris Miller
Waco, Texas
Mess Attendant, 2nd Class
United States Navy
USS West Virginia
First African-American to receive…
For devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor…While at the side of his Captain on the bridge of the battleship USS West Virginia, Miller, despite enemy bombing and strafing and in the face of serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety and operated a machine gun until ordered to leave the bridge.
…the Navy Cross