Monday, December 7, 2015

December 7, 1941-- Part 1: Nephew of Sailor Killed at Pearl Harbor Remembers the Date

From the Dec. 6, 2015, Sioux City (Iowa) Journal by Nick Hytrek.

John Christopher Thorman of Granville, Iowa, died on the USS Arizona that day.  His body is still entombed aboard his ship.

Jan George, his nephew, a history and government teacher at Sioux City West High School remembers his uncle though he died many years before he was born.

Mr. George has the Western Union telegram dated December 20, 1941 from Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs informing John and Marie Thorman that their son was among the missing.

He also has a piece of the USS Arizona taken from an area of the boat deck gallery which he got 11 years ago after learning that families of the Arizona's victims were able to get a piece as a way to connect them to their loved ones.

It took his grandmother a long time to come to grips with her son's death.


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