Oldest living Medal of Honor recipient marks 100th Birthday

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EAST COUNTY — 'I'm going to say it again . . . I cannot believe this is happening,” John Finn said as he surveyed a crowd of more than 2,000 who traveled to Pine Valley to celebrate his 100th birthday.

The Medal of Honor recipient has spoken all over the country about his heroic counterassault on enemy planes at Pearl Harbor nearly 68 years ago, and he was feted in March by President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
But nothing could compare to yesterday's much more personal tribute, Finn said.

“Who'd ever expect this kind of crowd out here?” the Live Oak Springs resident asked, supporting himself on two canes yet fit and sharp-witted for his nearly 100 years. “There's no way anything else can compare to this.”
Finn is the oldest of 96 living recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valor. His birthday isn't until July 23, but his schedule was so full that his party was arranged a month early.

He arrived at the celebration in style, seated in a military jeep, and was greeted by loud applause, hoots and hollers. He later was saluted with a Marine Corps Color Guard.

American flags lined Old Highway 80 leading to La Posta Diner, where owner Bud Wharton had organized the celebration.

“He eats at my restaurant quite frequently, and he's such a wonderful man that I decided that he should have a birthday party,” said Wharton, who transformed an old-fashioned barbecue into a fundraiser for wounded members of the military and their families.

The Nice Guys of San Diego, a charitable businessmen's organization, yesterday started off the fundraising with a $10,000 contribution to its Victory Fund and hoped to raise $30,000 more by day's end.

Finn, who had been assigned to Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station when Japanese aircraft attacked Hawaii in December 1941, seemed genuinely humbled by the praise heaped upon him by a host of speakers, from charitable and veterans organizations to members of the military and elected leaders.

Monique LaChappa, tribal chairwoman of the Campo Band of Mission Indians of the Kumeyaay Nation, lauded Finn as a devoted friend who became a foster parent, with his late wife, Alice, to five children from the reservation.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping my people to see a different way,” LaChappa said, her voice trembling.

Members of the tribe gave Finn a brightly colored “elders blanket” that they draped over his shoulders.

A couple of older fellows serenaded Finn with “The John Finn Song” in recognition of his Pearl Harbor valor (“Johnny didn't know he'd be a hero on that day”). And Dianne Jacob, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors, presented Finn with a proclamation declaring yesterday John Finn Day.

Later, nearly three dozen members of the Patriot Guard Riders revved their motorcycle engines in tribute to Finn.

Buddy Stuart Hedley, 87, who has celebrated many a birthday with Finn, called his friend a character.

“He's a lot of fun and has an uncanny memory,” said Hedley, also a Pearl Harbor survivor, wearing a lei around his neck. “He spends more time in an airplane than I do in my car, going around and speaking.”

Seated next to his companion, Frances Carmichael, in thronelike chairs covered in white satin and bedecked with red, white and blue carnations, Finn occasionally smiled or offered a sharp salute to acknowledge kind words.
Humbled by all the attention, Finn, a retired Navy lieutenant, downplayed his military service, telling the crowd, “All I ever was was a swab jockey.”

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Salute to this man and his service to our country.