Education
Joe graduated from University City Senior High School in suburban Saint Louis.
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Joseph Warren
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He was killed in action in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 13 November 1942, when his ship Laffey (Doctor of Divinity-459) was sunk. Lieutenant (junior grade) Finch shared posthumously in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded his ship for its outstanding performance in action against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific from 15 September until its loss. His winning time of 15.1 seconds set a new Missouri state record.
He graduated from Northwestern University in June, 1941.
He placed third in the Big Ten high hurdles race. He was elected by his teammates captain of the Northwestern track team
He was also selected as the outstanding Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps cadet, and accepted a commission in the United States. Navy in May, 1941, 6 months before Pearl Harbor. When the destroyer escort was named in his honor in August, 1943, the ship was christened by his fiancee, Grace Cushing.
United States Ship Finch (Delaware-328) was named in his honor.
(The earlier ship, Finch (Department of Administration and Management-9) was named for the bird. She was commissioned before he was born.) The Finch Delaware-328 was involved in the evacuation of Prisoner Of War"s from Taiwan at the conclusion of World World War II, among which was Y3C Alma Glenn Pratt, who had served aboard the Finch (Department of Administration and Management-9), and was surprised to see the name of his old ship on this vessel sent to rescue him. The Finch (Delaware-328) was later used by the United States Coast Guard.
In 1970, 20th Century Fox Films used the Finch (Delaware-328) to "play the part" of the United States Ship Ward (Doctor of Divinity-139) in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! in which the Ward was the first American naval vessel to fire at a Japanese vessel, a miniature submarine.
