Minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor’s ships, Japanese fighter pilots attacked planes parked at Kaneohe Naval Air Station, a major Navy patrol seaplane base.
Kaneohe Bay was targeted prior to the attack on the harbor to thwart air opposition and scrap the possibility of U.S. planes following Japanese pilots back to their aircraft carriers.
The new 498-acre facility, with some of its buildings still under construction, was home to three patrol squadrons. On Dec. 7, 1941, it had 33 PBY seaplanes on the ground or floating just offshore. The PBY Catalina “flying boat” seaplane was a signature aircraft of the time, with more than 60 on Oahu that day.
Strafing “Zero” fighters and bombers destroyed 27 Kaneohe Bay seaplanes, and the rest on the base were damaged.
Three PBYs out on patrol that morning were the only fit-for-service Kaneohe Bay seaplanes at the end of the day. Before the raid got underway, one of those patrolling planes had spotted a Japanese midget submarine off Pearl Harbor’s entrance.
During a second wave in the raid, two Kaneohe Bay hangars were bombed. In all, 18 sailors were killed at the air station.
Kaneohe’s John William Finn, the chief petty officer in charge of munitions, was one of 15 Navy men who later received the Medal of Honor (September 1942) for heroism during the attack.
Finn manned a .50-caliber machine gun on a makeshift gun mount, firing for an estimated 2-1/2 hours from an exposed section of a parking ramp.
The official citation awarded to Finn with his medal reads:
“Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes.”
Sources: National Park Service, Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Naval Institute
