John W. Finley

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to John W. Finley (RA07001030), Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. Master Sergeant Finley distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces Chonji, Korea, on 10 July 1950. On this date, Sergeant Finley’s Platoon was under extremely heavy attack by superior enemy forces supported by heavy artillery, tank and automatic weapons fire. Personnel of the Platoon began to withdraw and, seeing this, Sergeant Finley, in order to encourage his men to stay in their positions, secured a machine-gun from its mount, stood up, and without regard for his own safety, advanced alone on the enemy inflicting heavy casualties until the machine gun was knocked from his hands by a bullet. He then secured a rifle and continued effective fire on the enemy. By his aggressive leadership he encouraged the members of his platoon to hold their positions.
Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 27 (August 17, 1950)