Asmall piece of rusted metal resting in a simple wooden case will soon have a place of honor in the new Monroe Township High School museum.
JEFF GRANIT staff Thomas Mahoney, a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, discusses his experience during an event at Monroe Township High School June 3, when a piece of the sunken USS Arizona was presented to the school. The brown chunk of steel is from the superstructure of the USS Arizona, which sank in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Last week, the piece was donated to the high school during a special ceremony led by social studies teacher Matthew Defilippis and Principal Robert Goodall in front of local veterans and history students.
The assembly listened as Thomas Mahoney, of Union, a survivor of the attack, spoke about what it was like to be on one of the ships in the harbor that day. The audience also heard from Jody Grant of Monroe, whose persistence brought the piece to the school.
Mahoney and his brother, Harold, were serving on the USS Curtiss on what started out as a typical Sunday morning.
JEFF GRANIT staff Above: Pearl Harbor survivor Thomas Mahoney (r) talks with Stan Hoffman, also a World War II veteran, on June 3 when a piece of the USS Arizona was presented to Monroe Township High School for its new museum. Left: Russell Grant (l) and Carly Price look at the glass-encased piece of metal. Grant’s mother Jody secured the relic and arranged to have it donated in honor of the Eagle Scout. “I had gone to breakfast with friends and then went to put on my dress whites to go to Mass. Suddenly we heard loud explosions and the ship began to roll. I put my head out the porthole and saw all these planes dropping bombs,” Mahoney said.
He described the fires, bloodshed and chaos of the next few hours.
“A Japanese plane crashed onto our deck. It was the first kamikaze of the war,” he said. When the bombing was over, he said, he opened one door inside the ship to find the charred bodies of five of his friends; mates with whom he had eaten breakfast that morning.
One of the most well-known ships lost that day was the Arizona. The vessel had millions of gallons of oil on board when it was bombed. Recovering the bodies of all those lost was considered too dangerous, so the wreck became the resting place of more than 1,100 sailors. In 1980, the National Parks Service opened the USS Arizona Memorial, built over the ship.
Part of the superstructure of Arizona had to be removed when the museum was being built, and those pieces were put into storage. Veterans’ organizations and museums expressed an interest in the wreckage and the Navy began donating pieces to certain groups.
Jody Grant of Monroe, whose son Russell has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, read an article about Arizona relics and wondered if she could acquire a piece that could be donated to the high school in honor of her son.
“When Russell was 10 and his sister Robin was 16, we visited the Arizona in Hawaii. It was a dream of my husband, Marty, and it was a very moving experience,” Jody said. Russell always had an interest in history, and as he matured that interest grew. He joined the history club and went to Europe, visiting Normandy Beach and a concentration camp. His grandmother had lost relatives in the Holocaust.
Jody contacted the author of the article, who put her in touch with the Department of Public Relations at the Navy in Hawaii, but was informed that they did not give Arizona relics to individuals.
“They have to be sure that it will be treated with respect and that it won’t be sold. They told me to send them a letter,” Jody said. She wrote a letter explaining her intentions for the piece, and a few months later the request was approved.
“My hands were shaking the day the package arrived. I was so afraid it would break,” she said. The relic does appear to be fragile. It is very rusted, about 11 inches long and shaped like an irregular triangle. Jody’s husband Martin created the wooden case that houses the piece, and she was happy to learn that it will be kept in the new high school museum.
“It’s so important for young people to understand history,” she said.
Thomas Mahoney would agree with that statement. He was eventually assigned to the USS O’Bannon.
“The O’Bannon was known as a lucky ship,” he said. Though the ship was in continuous combat for 35 months, it never had a casualty.
“It was the most decorated ship in the Navy. We were chosen to escort the Missouri into Tokyo harbor,” he said referring to Japan’s official surrender at the end of the war.
Mahoney addressed the young people in the audience last week.
“You have to make sure this country is safe. We’ve done our share; we can’t do any more. It’s all up to you now,” he said.