List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration presented by the United States (U.S.) government to a member of its armed forces. The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against numerous U.S. military sites on the island of Oahu – with a focus on the naval base at Pearl Harbor – in the U.S. Territory of Hawaii. The attack, on the morning of December 7, 1941, led to America's entry into World War II.

For their actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 15 sailors in the U.S. Navy (from seven ships and one Naval Air Station) were awarded the Medal of Honor. As noted below, a 16th Medal of Honor was awarded to a marine in the U.S. Marine Corps for an encounter that day, at a Naval Air Station elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, with units of the same Japanese attack fleet. Of these 16 Medals of Honor recipients for actions on this first day of the Pacific War, 11 received their awards posthumously.

Midway
The Japanese fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor also struck elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands that day, trying to disable the U.S. Marine base on Sand Island at Midway Atoll. For his actions during that engagement, a 16th Medal of Honor was awarded to a marine who died at Sand Island on this first day of the Pacific War.