Medal of Honor
December 7, 1941
Sand Island, Midway Atoll
- Rank at action
- First Lieutenant
- Service
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Conflict
- World War II
- Unit or command
- Battery H, 6th Defense Battalion
The Citation
Sources ↓For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage and disregard of 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.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- George Ham Cannon — Congressional Medal of Honor Society recipient profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-09-01
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-002820
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-09-01
- Entered service at
- Michigan
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 1dc67c3b36aa8e9bf393c74849992c685e5911b3f5d8cde2b7fd741ae458e20b
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; rendered current reference profile comparison is documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
Current official reference profile confirms identity and core action metadata; legacy citation and source-row provenance are retained; General Order comparison remains pending.