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Ohio Gov. John Kasich has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff Thursday from sunrise until sunset in recognition of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
“We remember the lives lost that tragic December morning and we owe all men and women of our military a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay,” Kasich's resolution states.
But Thomas had been one of the lucky ones. He made it through the water and aboard another ship, the Maryland. He closed out his oral history with this:
Haas said the attack never will vanish from the nation’s collective mind. “Pearl Harbor changed everything completely,” he said. “Once that happened, it was no holds barred. Now, we’re in the war.”
Nevertheless, collections like those at the museum offer a look through a different lens. As Haas discussed the war Tuesday in a conference room at the history museum, he pulled from an acid-free box a 6-inch-thick scrapbook. The faded pages of Life and Look magazines and from newspapers glued to the pages and tucked inside crackled as Haas touched them. The room suddenly smelled like your grandma’s attic.
The scrapbook is one of six donated in the collection of Frederick Shedd that chronicles the war. Haas said there’s something about original manuscripts and writing that is compelling; people want to see them. He flipped to the pages that contained news of the Pearl Harbor attack.
“For some reason, even after all this time, the shock of Pearl Harbor hasn’t worn off,” Haas said. “FDR said it was a date that would live in infamy. And he was right.”