May 28, 2010

Dynamic cultural illiteracy

Because I watch little electrical teevee I'm in debt  to my friend Alan of  one of the New England commissariats for word that Lt. John W. Finn, USN, (ret.)  died yesterday. On Dec. 7, 1941, he left his wife's bed in Kanoehe to rush to the sound of guns at  the  Naval Air station.

Then-CPO Finn picked up a machine gun (presumably a Browning .30), carried it to an exposed spot on the air strip, and blazed away at Jap raiders. He was wounded several times over the course of a long battle, He survived hospitalization, and, on Sept. 15, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz pinned the Medal of Honor on him.

Last night, on ABC teevee, John tells me,   George Stephanopolis (I'm too intellectual to be in politics.) reported that he was cited   for "fighting back at the Kamikazes attacking Pearl Harbor."

EDIT:  Adding that Lt. Finn was the last surviving MOH winner from Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.








3 comments:

JohnW said...

Something just occurred to me which makes this even more egregious: We here in the GMA are on the West Coast feed. This idiocy had been broadcast, recorded, and then rebroadcast presumably without notice, correction, or, if noticed, concern. "Layers of editorial oversight" my pink patoot.

Jim said...

I have a feeling that if you called George or his producer on it you'd get something like:

"Whaddya care. I mean, like they're all Japanese planes with guns and bombs and like that and it was mostly America's fault anyway because the League of Nations said that nice Mr Hirohito had a right to all the American oil and scrap iron he wanted to turn back the Chinese aggressors. Huh? Nanking? Never heard of it."

JohnW said...

Yea, that's it. The Empire of Kamikaz attacked us. Or maybe it was the Germans. You know, kamikaze = Nazi? Ya gotta love those Ivy League edyumakashuns.