Two Navy ships to be named for San Diego war heroes

John Finn and Rafael Peralta to be honored


Written by

Gretel C. Kovach
11:05 a.m., Feb. 15, 2012
Updated 1:41 p.m.

The Navy will name two of its next five ships after San Diego war heroes, plus a third for a former Camp Pendleton Marine, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Wednesday.


One destroyer will be named for Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a San Diegan who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions in Iraq, “selflessly covering a grenade with his body to save his fellow Marines from the blast,” the Navy said.

Peralta, 25, was mortally wounded while the Marines fought from house to house in Fallujah on Nov. 15, 2004.

Another destroyer will be named for the late World War II veteran John William Finn, who received the Medal of Honor from Adm. Chester Nimitz for displaying "magnificent courage in the face of almost certain death" during the Japanese attack on military installations in Hawaii.

Finn, a longtime resident of San Diego County, retired from the Navy as a lieutenant and died in 2010 at age 100. At the time he was the oldest living recipient of the nation’s highest award for valor in combat.

On Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes strafed his Kaneohe Bay base on the way to Pearl Harbor, Finn grabbed a .50-caliber machine gun and returned fire for more than two hours from an exposed position.

The chief petty officer was hit 21 times by bullet and bomb fragments. Some credited Finn with single-handedly shooting down a Japanese aircraft. “I can’t honestly say (for sure) I hit any, but I shot at every damn plane I could see,” Finn said.

A third Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer will be named for Marine Corps Pfc. Ralph Henry Johnson, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War.

Johnson was serving with Camp Pendleton's 1st Reconnaissance Battalion when he saved another Marine’s life and sacrificed his own.

He shouted a warning and hurled his body onto a grenade thrown into their fighting hole, preventing the enemy from penetrating his sector of the patrol's perimeter.

The 19-year-old Marine from Charleston, S.C. was killed instantly in the attack on March 5, 1968.

The three men served in different wars and different times spanning the decades, but they were united in their uncommon valor, the Navy said.

"Finn, Johnson and Peralta have all been recognized with some of our nation's highest awards," Mabus said. "I want to ensure their service and sacrifice will be known by today's sailors and Marines and honored for several decades to come by a new generation of Americans, and people from around the world."

Peralta's sister Icela Donald, 31, of San Diego, said Mabus called her Monday to inform the family of the news. "We're in shock right now... and very happy," she said, particularly with the choice of a destroyer to bear her brother's name.

"He was a strong, brave man," she said. "If you know Marines you know they’re tough. They’re devil dogs. That’s how Rafa was, a Marine to the fullest. Look what he did – jumping on top of a grenade. You have to be brave to do that."

Peralta and his family moved to San Diego to escape the violence of Tijuana, Donald said. Their father had permanent residency and later became a U.S. citizen; the day Peralta was granted his own green card he enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Now their brother Ricardo is fighting with the infantry in Afghanistan, fulfilling a promise he made to his brother after he died to follow in his footsteps in the Corps. "Nothing has been easy for my family, being Hispanic and immigrant. Now, with our last name to be known as USS Peralta ... I'm just so proud of my brother."

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, campaigned for years to have the Navy name ships for the two San Diegans. He succeeded in amending the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act with a plea to honor Peralta and introduced legislation in 2010 urging the Navy to name a ship for Finn, a resolution that died in committee.

“For Sgt. Peralta and John Finn, this is recognition that’s well-deserved,” Hunter said. “Two ships carrying the names of such heroic Americans—and San Diegans, in fact—will inspire future generations of Marines and sailors."

Peralta and Finn will be in good company plying the seas with destroyers named for Cpl. Jason Dunham, Lt. Michael Murphy, and others, Hunter said. Dunham, a Marine who used his body to cover a grenade in Iraq, and Murphy, a Navy SEAL who exposed himself to enemy gunfire to help his team in Afghanistan, were both posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

"These combat heroes are as tough as the steel used to make these ships and they are proud examples of the unrelenting fighting spirit of America’s military," Hunter said.

The Navy has been under fire recently from some veterans who said combat heroes like Peralta, Finn and Johnson should have been recognized with ships in their names before civil rights leader Medgar Evers, labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat.

The Navy announced last week that a littoral combat ship will be named for Giffords. The cargo ships named for Chavez and Evers come from a class traditionally christened after famous American explorers, pioneers and visionaries, Mabus has said.

Destroyers, however, are usually named for war heroes, distinguished Navy and Marine personnel and Medal of Honor recipients.

Also announced Wednesday: two littoral combat ships will be named for Sioux City and Omaha.

"I chose the name for our two new littoral combat ships after Midwestern cities from America's heartland, to honor the patriotic, hard-working citizens of Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, for their support of and contributions to the military," Mabus said.

Military reporter Jeanette Steele contributed to this report.

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