More than 50 Medal of Honor Heroes in Honolulu

Medal of Honor recipients pay tribute to WWII aviators
By WILLIAM COLE
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Published: October 3, 2012

More than 50 of 81 living Medal of Honor recipients are in Honolulu for the weeklong 2012 Medal of Honor Convention, an annual get-together of the nation's greatest war heroes.

HONOLULU — Eight Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients, in town for a convention of the war heroes, paid tribute Tuesday to four World War II aviators who were at one time based at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa and singled out for bravery "above and beyond the call of duty."

The four Marines were killed in action during the war, and streets were named after them at Ewa Field, according to the event's organizers.

The weedy and neglected state of Ewa Field, which was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, came as a surprise to some of the Medal of Honor recipients who traveled to pay respects to their fallen Marine brethren, who also were awarded the nation's highest military honor.

"We were surprised when we heard about this because the Marines, we're deep, deep in the history of our Corps, and we'd never heard of this air station," said Richard Pittman, 67, who in Vietnam in 1966 went to the aid of fellow Marines who were under heavy fire on a jungle trail.

Pittman grabbed a belt-fed M-60 machine gun and took out two enemy positions before continuing further and facing down as many as 40 enemy fighters, first with his M-60 and then with a pistol and an enemy rifle until the enemy withdrew.

For his bravery, Pittman was awarded the Medal of Honor.
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