What a wonderful gift Pearl Harbor Survivor Clifton Dohrmann of Las Vegas received from his loving wife Ginny.

For months, Ginny had been sneaking around trying to keep secret her intent to give Clifton a beautiful "shadow box" for Christmas.

A shadow box for military veterans usually displays an array of all their medals, ribbons and other awards or accouterments the veteran earned during their time in service to this country.

Pictured above... Christmas Eve as Clifton opened his gift.

Suffice it to say, Ginny was successful in keeping the gift a secret all these months.


Among Clifton's many awards, are two sets of Combat Aircrewman Wings with five stars, denoting five combat tours during World War II. He also was awarded the Air Medal, the Navy Commendation, a Combat Action Ribbon and quite a few more awards for his service in the U.S. Navy.

On December 7th, 1941, Clifton was an Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class, and Naval Aircrewman flying aboard the famous PBY Catalina aircraft, stationed at NAS Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu.

He retired as a Chief Petty Officer after 15 years of service, and is currently the Vice President of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Silver State Chapter 2 of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Merry Christmas Clifton!

During the recent month-long series of celebrations for the 100th birthday of Medal of Honor Recipient John W. Finn, John was more-than happy to carry out a special request to administer the oath of reenlistment for a fellow Navy Aviation Ordnanceman.

This particular reenlistment ceremony was scheduled to take place during the 4th of July Parade held in Coronado, California.

As an aside, prior to the commencement of the dinner party, I brought “Metal of Honor” out the trailer and put her on display in front of the restaurant for the guests and the public to see. And as expected, much of my time during the dinner party was spent chatting with people who asked to take pictures of the bike, as well as having wonderful conversations about the project as a whole.

During the dinner party, Melissa rose to her feet and expressed her deep appreciation for the honor of being selected to have the most-revered Ordnanceman in Naval history, John Finn, administer the oath; and I think there wasn’t one person in attendance who wasn’t deeply moved by Melissa’s words... as she stated: "We're not among heroes, we're among angels."As the party was relaxing after a fine evening meal, Melissa took the time to step outside so as to take a few pictures of the bike to show her fellow Ordnancemen aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
And I have to believe by the shear number of photos Melissa took of the bike that she found it pretty special... what with the Aviation Ordnance community's favorite hero engraved on the tank.

Melissa even got on the phone to tell her friends about the bike as well as how excited she was to be eating dinner with the hero of the Aviation Ordnance world, John Finn.
The following day, Independence Day 2009, brought with it spectacular blue skies and parade fans 12-deep on both sides of the nearly 2 mile long parade route.

And with fellow Aviation Ordnancemen marching in escort of the classic GTO convertible carrying the oldest living Medal of Honor Recipient, Melissa and her mother waited with great anticipation of the arrival of John at the reviewing stand.
With a spotless inspection-ready dress white uniform, AO3 Thorton stood at attention, and with right hand raised, took the oath of reenlistment from the Medal of Honor who her fellow Ordnancemen hold as their greatest example of Naval service.
And what a wonderful gift to remember this special event by, that of a beautifully framed picture of John Finn, along with a copy of his Medal of Honor Citation, and adorned with three separate Medal of Honor challenge coins, another of the Purple Heart, and an Ordnanceman coin; something any AO would be extremely proud to have on their wall.

The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor is under going a huge renovation in preparation for it's grand reopening in December of 2010. Dana really wants to take Metal of Honor, the truck and the trailer over for the ceremony, but I can't even fathom how much that would cost! So he says to me.. "Hey I bet some high muckety-muck General could make this happen." I started laughing , but then I remember one of my guiding rules in life.. " if you don't ask, they can't say yes!"

So I'm asking. Anyone have any bright ideas on how to get the truck, trailer, and bike to Hawaii for the ceremony ... without it eating up the printing budget for the book, I mean.

Ok, back to the real world now.

Dana is on the road in San Diego for Memorial Day weekend. He sent back these very first pictures of the finished Metal of Honor Pearl Harbor Tribute Harley taken near the USS Midway Carrier in San Diego Harbor.


The USS Midway is the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th century. The floating "city at sea" is permanetly docked in San Diego Harbor and is open daily for tours of the carrier.

The entire city of San Diego has special meaning for Dana, as it is where he first met Ben Boosinger and the other Survivors. They hold their monthly meetings at the Veteran's Museum and Memorial in Balboa Park. Dana met them all when he volunteered to teach a basic computer class for veterans. During the course of the class "Uncle" Ben told Dana he was now an honorary member of the San Diego Carnation Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Would you tell an 85 year old war hero "no"? Attending the meetings brought Dana into their world of service and duty. Being a Navy veteran himself, this began a long friendship with Ben and all of the other survivors that morphed into a life mission — documented in over 20,000 photographs. Some of these will be shared in Dana's upcoming book, Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember.

If you are in San Diego, Dana, the trailer and Metal of Honor will be at the Memorial Services at Mt. Soledad on Monday. Look for him in the lower parking lot. He says the media typically attends this event in force and he is excited to possibly get some news coverage. More importantly, however, he is chomping at the bit to show the bike to John Finn tomorrow and put the last piece in place, John's signature on the gas tank next to his picture and his Medal of Honor. Once Dana comes back to Vegas, the signature will be clear coated by Dwight at Purcellz Customz.