BHS grad's heroic acts live on
On June 6, 1944, John Pinder Jr. could have been celebrating his birthday back in the states, but felt compelled by a higher power to serve his country overseas.
That day, his primary mission riding the first waves onto Omaha Beach involved a radio.
“A hero — in one word,” said Michael Kraus, curator of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum in Pittsburgh, to describe the Butler High School alumnus, who died in the line of duty and was posthumously granted a Medal of Honor.
His job to set up the radio was critical. A radio on the beach was needed to communicate with the ships.
Pinder did not carry a rifle that fateful day, Kraus said, but he was shot at.
When the small craft of 50 men hit the beach, the ramp dropped and was hit with machine gun artillery.
As Pinder recovered from the machine gunfire, he was struck in the left side of his face with a piece of shell, Kraus said. Some who were there later described the scene as Pinder's “face was hanging off and he was holding onto it.”
He made his way to shore and found his radio was damaged. Painfully, he scrambled the coast to find parts.
Pinder was then hit by machine gunfire across his legs. As he bled profusely, the 32-year-old man refused treatment until he got his radio working.
Within seconds of fixing his radio — thus enabling the much-need communication between the bombarded beach and the boats off shore — Pinder was killed by a sniper.
Pinder's story is “like a comic book hero account of what somebody can do,” Kraus said.
Even after being severely wounded multiple times, Technician Fifth Grade Pinder, 16th INF 1ST, helped establish communications vital to the success of the invasion.
Pinder, a 1931 BHS graduate, received a Medal of Honor for his actions on Omaha Beach — one of only four people to receive that honor for service on D-Day.Pinder's Medal of Honor is on display in the D-Day Pittsburgh 75 Exhibit at Soldiers & Sailors Hall. The exhibit, which debuted on Memorial Day, will remain available through June.Pinder was known among his fellow infantry men as an “athlete and perfectionist,” according to Kraus. However, he was not the typical 17- to 19-year-old soldier, but an older man with the first infantry division who already fought through Italy.Pinder also was a professional baseball pitcher and played on the Butler team during high school. He also played for the Butler Indians in 1935; and the Butler Yankees and pitched for the Sterling Oils in Emlenton in 1936, according to Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice.In 1938, he started pitching for the Sanford Lookouts, a Chicago White Sox affiliate. He registered for the service in 1941 and pitched his last game Aug. 28, 1941. He entered the service Jan. 27, 1942.Kraus said Pinder is the only professional baseball player to receive a Medal of Honor.Pinder, who also went by Joe, was a “radio man” — he worked with communications and carried a radio that would have been about the same size as a window air-conditioning unit and weighed about 90 pounds.Kraus pointed out that Pinder's letters were written in perfect English, grammatically perfect, with good handwriting.Pinder's brother, Harold, was a bomber pilot in World War II, who was shot down months before Pinder landed at D-Day, according to Kraus. Harold was captured German troops in April 1944 and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp.The Medal of Honor was presented to Pinder's father, who gave it to Harold when he returned home, Kraus said.Harold kept the medal all his life. About six years ago, when Harold died, the family gave the medal to the museum.Kraus describes Pinder's medal as a “national treasure.”Another important artifact housed by the museum is the wallet Pinder carried at Omaha Beach.
Bill May, historian and founder of the Butler County Civil War Roundtable, said the hometown hero exhibited every characteristic to earn the medal.“He did an extraordinary act of heroism which saved many other lives on that beach that day,” May said. “It's important to know that people from our hometown of Butler not only gave the ultimate sacrifice on Omaha Beach, but also exhibited extraordinary heroism and concern for the success of the American invasion, disregarding their own personal safety.”Although its been 75 years since D-Day, May said that time does not seem as distance when a person looks at historical artifacts.“Artifacts tell the best story because they're real objects people had,” he said. “Visitors relate to that human scale.”Kraus said he encourages people to visit the exhibit.“As the dates get farther and as we lose the men who were actually there, you start looking at them in an abridged version — we have to be careful that we don't lose sight of the story and struggle,” he said. “If you know a World War II veteran, walk up to them and thank them for their service and shake their hand and look them in the face.”Before the Pledge of Allegiance June 6, May told students at Lakeview High School in Mercer County about D-Day.History, he strongly believes, should never be forgotten.“We should all say the pledge with a little more sense of meaning and pride in America knowing that boys not much older than the high school kids I was talking to today were on a beach in Normandy fighting to save the freedom of the nation,” May said. “Always remember the sacrifices and men and women today who serve the nation so we can go about our lives in freedom.”
WHAT: D-Day Pittsburgh 75 ExhibitWHEN: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through June 30WHERE: Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, 4141 Fifth Ave., PittsburghOF NOTE: Sample items to be included:Wind torn 48-star United States flag flown from LCI 540 (Landing Craft Infantry) when it landed on Omaha Beach.Frank Miller photograph, KIA June 6, 1944. The haunting image of a fresh face youthful soldier killed on Omaha Beach.Items recovered on D-Day by U.S. soldiers including: British helmet, MP40 German submachine gun and German and British helmets recovered on D-Day.Rare materials related to the famous 82nd Airborne Division including a jump uniform, photographs and a dress uniform with jump wing insignia worn home at the end of the war.Secret orders issued to the invading force.
