George H. Cannon

He refused evacuation until his wounded Marines were rescued

George Ham Cannon was born on November 5, 1915, in Webster Groves, Missouri. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1938 with a mechanical engineering degree, he accepted a Marine commission. He served aboard USS Boise, trained in base defence weapons and reached Midway in September 1941. A first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, he commanded Battery H, 6th Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces bombarded Sand Island in the Midway Islands. Shellfire mortally wounded Cannon at his command post. He refused evacuation until the men wounded by the same shell had been removed. He continued directing the reorganization of the post until others forcibly carried him away.

Cannon died that day from blood loss. His posthumous Medal of Honor recognized courage and dedication to his Marines despite his own injuries. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. A family cenotaph in Knightstown, Indiana, also commemorates him.

Medal of Honor Citation

For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage, and disregard for his own condition during the bombardment of Sand Island, Midway Islands, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. 1st Lt. Cannon, Battery Commander of Battery H, 6th Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, U.S. Marine Corps, was at his command post when he was mortally wounded by enemy shellfire.

He refused to be evacuated from his post until after his men who had been wounded by the same shell were evacuated and directed the reorganization of his command post until forcibly removed. As a result of his utter disregard of his own condition he died from loss of blood.