On the morning of Sunday, 7 December 1941, CPO John Finn was at his home, about a mile from the aircraft hangars, when he heard the sound of gunfire. He drove to the hangars, catching sight of Japanese planes in the sky on the way, and found that the airbase was being attacked. Finn's men were trying to fight back by using the machine guns mounted in the PBYs, either by firing from inside the flaming planes or by detaching the guns and mounting them on improvised stands. Finn later explained that one of the first things he did was to take control of a machine gun from his squadron's painter. "I said, 'Alex, let me take that gun' ... knew that I had more experience firing a machine gun than a painter." Finding a movable tripod platform used for gunnery training, Finn attached the .50 caliber machine gun and pushed the platform into an open area, from which he had a clear view of the attacking aircraft. He fired on the Japanese planes for the next two hours, even after being seriously wounded, until the attack had ended. In total, he was wounded 21 times. He became the first man of World War 2 to receive the Medal of Honor and lived to be 100, passing away in May of 2010. #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #hero #respect #ww2 #greatestgeneration