History came to remarkable 98-year-old life yesterday when Navy-Marine Golf Course "unveiled" its new tee markers with John Finn, the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.

The first recipient for actions during World War II is immortalized on Navy-Marine's fourth tee for "extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty." Finn is here for four days to film "Above and Beyond," scheduled to be broadcast in March.

All 15 Medal of Honor recipients from the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Dec. 7, 1941, are honored at the course. Finn was the only one not at Pearl Harbor; Kane'ohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station housed a small Naval Air Station in 1941, with three patrol squadrons (36 aircraft). All but the three PBY-5s that had launched on routine daily submarine patrols were destroyed in an attack that preceded Pearl Harbor by five minutes.

The first and 10th tees give background on Navy-Marine's history as a staging area for those about to be shipped to the South Pacific and later as "Navy 128 Hospital," made up of Quonset huts. The 18th hole is "dedicated to all who have served honorably to preserve our freedom."

The government purchased the land from the Damon family estate in 1942 and turned it into a tent city that also included officers' and nurses' quarters, and an outdoor theater that was located in the middle of what is now the course.

Most of "Camp Catlin's" tents folded up in 1946. Vice Admiral John L. Hall Jr., an 8-handicapper, convinced those above him to build a golf course with a $250,000 surplus from the slot machines at the service club, according to a "work-in-progress" history of Navy-Marine. The course, which underwent extensive renovation in 2005 and 2006, will celebrate its 60th anniversary Jan. 2.

Finn will celebrate his 99th birthday July 23. He walks with two canes, barely looks over the 5-foot granite markers and has trouble hearing. But his mind might be as sharp as it was on the Day of Infamy, when he set up a machine gun on an instruction platform at Kane'ohe Marine Corps Air Station and, hidden only by the thick smoke from the surrounding carnage, started firing back.

"I was so mad I guess I didn't have enough sense to be frightened or scared," said Finn, who was hit 21 times and had injuries ranging from scratches to serious flesh wounds.

"My thumb and elbow hurt like hell ... I stopped a little shrapnel here and there," he said, before moving on to talk about "shipmates" who had suffered much more, going into gory, realistic detail.

Finn kept firing until all the Japanese planes left, helped set up machine gun pits into the night and didn't go to the hospital until the next day. He stayed until Christmas Eve. Finn was promoted to lieutenant two years later and transferred to the Mainland. He retired from active duty in 1947 and lives on a 90-acre ranch in Campo, Calif.

Now Caleb Nation, a chief petty officer at Kane'ohe, follows in the footsteps of his grandmother's cousin each morning as he walks to work at Hangar 3. Nation says Finn still remembers every face and name, including Navy nicknames such as "Beauty Martin, Buttscratcher and Backstabber."

"He is amazing," said Nation, who realized yesterday that Finn was wearing the same Navy-issue shoes he had on the day in 1942 that Admiral Chester Nimitz presented him with the Medal of Honor. "They're held together by polish," Nation said with a grin.

They were definitely not golf shoes.

"Oh hell no, I don't play," Finn said. "My brother's a golfer."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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