Last month we shared John Henry Mann’s story. This month we have more information on his story to share. It seems he was part of a group of six buddies who were stationed at Hickam Field and were there on the morning of December 7, 1941. Of the six, only one survived the bombing of the field. His name was Michael Toms and he wrote to the families of his five buddies who were killed in the attack, sharing kind remembrances of them. This young man, Mike, was the father-in-law of Mr. Gerald Matthews who originally contacted us. Mrs. Mann wrote back to Mike who kept her letter. Recently we received the original of the letter from Mr. Matthews.
It is our plan to transfer the original of the letter to the Harmony Historical Society as John Henry Mann was from Stow. We are currently in contact with Pam Brown the historian from Harmony and plan to work with her on that transfer. Below, I have transcribed the letter from Mrs. Mann.
“Dear Mike. Your dear kind letter reached us a few days ago. I do thank you for your letter and your kind words, and so glad that my son did not suffer. I still cry lots…I think John would not want it so. *Ruth has written to the Navy and Army, she hopes to get in soon. I’m going to miss her. Nights are the hardest to bear for I dearly loved John, I only lived for him. I worried so often about him and just these last two weeks have learned that he was in an airplane crash. The school paper put a very nice piece in with lots of nice things about John. We don’t know where John lies, but his spirit is here with me. It makes the awful hurt less to bear. I am proud he is my son and pray God only to let me help in my own way so that John’s death will be remembered as part of the great sacrifices expected of us all. I thank you most sincerely, (signed by E. Mann)”
With the priceless gift of this letter we are privileged to learn a little more about the many sacrifices of the men and women who stepped up to support our country at this terrible time in history. And, we thank Mr. Matthews for his gift of history to our local community.
