Member-only story

The White Boats of Pearl Harbor: Unveiling the Heroic Stories Behind Their Names

Chapter 1: TB-39–1, JOHN W. FINN

David Hodge
6 min readSep 8, 2024
Dedication of the JOHN FINN (TB-39–1), on April 7, 2009 (USN Photo)

On April 7, 2009, Naval Station Pearl Harbor and the National Park Service held a short ceremony to dedicate the first of six new ferry boats for visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial. Each boat was named in honor of a recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. This collection is the story of those six men.

BORN — July 24, 1909, Compton, California

MARKED MOMENT — Finn dropped out of school after the seventh grade and enlisted in the Navy in July 1926 — just before his 17th birthday.

DEC. 7, 1941 — Chief Aviation Ordnanceman, Patrol Squadron 11 (VP-11)

A CAREER SAILOR

John William Finn was originally trained in general aviation repair before becoming an Aviation Ordnanceman after training at San Diego, California, and Great Lakes, Illinois.

He served with squadrons on board the USS Lexington (CV-2); USS Houston (CA-30); USS Jason (AV-2); USS Saratoga (CV-3); and USS Cincinnati (CL-6).

Finn’s shore assignments included Naval Air Stations at Coco Solo, Panama; Sand Point, Washington; Sitka, Alaska; and Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

--

--

David Hodge
David Hodge

Written by David Hodge

Retired Navy Musician, I'm now a Community Relations Manager in Pearl Harbor. I'm also a woodworker and a guy that's always putting something together.

No responses yet