Pearl Harbor group of 6, Corporal James F. Hartley, 407th Signal Company, Aviation

Pearl Harbor Commendation Ribbon group to Corporal James F. Hartley, 407th Signal Company: Bronze Star, crimp brooch (marked “HLP”), machine-engraved “James F./Hartley”; Army Commendation Medal, crimp-over-slot brooch, hand-engraved in script “James F. Hartley”; Army Good Conduct Medal, slot brooch, unnamed; American Defense Service Medal, slot brooch; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal. With a Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal and a souvenir piece of shrapnel. Plus, a dog tag to Hartley; the original request for a commendation for Acting Corporal Hartley for service at Hickam Field on 7 December 1941:

“As soon as the attack started, Corp Hartley obtained a Command Car and along with three other enlisted men of the organization who had volunteered to help man communications at the Air Force message center drove over open terrain thru enemy machine gun fire and safely reached his post. Corp Hartley remained at the message center for the duration of the attack in the capacity of teletype operator”. The letter is signed by 1Lt Kravutske, company commander, and endorsed with General Clarence Tinker’s approval by the Adjutant General, Hawaiian Air Force; with the original Commendation Ribbon certificate to Hartley for meritorious achievement in the “Pacific Theater of Operations, 7 December 1941 (dated 23 August 1949).

James Franklin Hartley was born in Brooklyn, NY, on 21 April 1921. He enlisted in September 1940 and served through August 1945. He later lived in Redding, California, and died in Medford, Oregon, in May 2006.