The gent who donated his great uncle's Pearl Harbor medals and papers served as a bomb loader during the development of the F-117 in the very early 1980s; he's got some interesting stories, plus other's he can't talk about. His ex-took his stuff so he had to get a reissue of medals from St. Louis. He's also an avid model builder and built a nice F-117 and mounted it as if it's over-flying an A-7 aircraft, which is the plane they used as their "cover" plane. He also did a couple years in the Army and should have the Army training ribbon.    Mark sends

So, there you have it. I know that some people kind of turn up their noses at reissued medals, but I've always felt they're just a valid as the originals, because it's the story that matters....ergo, I'm pretty happy to add this to our Pearl Harbor display.   Mark sends

This photo is of the Grandfather (Lyman) unveiling a memorial to his brother. Lyman was rejected from WWII service due to a heart murmur.

Here's Stanley's write up from the U of A Memorial " Stanley Horace Thomas is well-remembered in his hometown of Whitinsville, Massachusetts. Mr. Thomas, a fireman third class on the U.S.S. Arizona, was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.   Whitinsville, an unincorporated village in central Massachusetts within the town of Northbridge, has a beach at Meadow Pond named in memory of Mr. Thomas.   There is also a small brass plaque in his memory outside of the American Legion and a larger marker at the veterans memorial in a park — both in Rockdale, another village in Northbridge.   And then there were the efforts of a childhood friend and World War II veteran, Raymond Rondeau, who reached out to the Blackstone Valley Tribune newspaper in 2019 to help him find out more about the life of Mr. Thomas. Tribune readers responded, and much of the information in this profile was contributed by them and by Mr. Rondeau’s own research.   Mr. Thomas was born November 1, 1920, the youngest of three children of Eugene E. Thomas, a machinist, and Alice Hall Thomas, a homemaker. She died when Stanley was about 14.   He attended Northbridge High School, where he excelled at baseball and was nicknamed “Porker” because he was short and pudgy. Mr. Thomas quit school after the 10th grade, then worked at Whitin Machine Works — one of the world’s largest textile machinery companies.   Mr. Thomas enlisted in the Navy on April 2, 1940 and trained at the Navy station at Newport, Rhode Island. He took multiple tests, scoring highest in English with a 77. He also passed tests for swimming and lifesaving. He first served on a destroyer and then on an amphibious transport dock. He went aboard the Arizona, a battleship, on October 11, 1940.   He was honored at a memorial service at the United Presbyterian Church in Whitinsville. Though his body was never recovered from the Arizona, his name is carved into the family headstone at Pine Grove Cemetery in Northbridge.   Sources: Special thanks to Raymond Rondeau. Other sources include: the Uxbridge (Massachusetts) Times; the Blackstone Valley Tribune; Northbridge Historical Society; Pine Grove Cemetery; Census; Navy muster roll; Northbridge Service Men’s Album; Purple Heart documentation.   This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona."

OK...now for the paperwork that backs this up....there's multiple copies of some of these, but this is the core doco shown here. Notice that when the medals were mailed, there were "no stars available."   Mark sends

Our bylaws dictate that if we were ever to close, we have to make every reasonable effort to return artifacts to the donor, and failing that, to donate them to other museums, educational institutions, etc. My concern is that if after I'm gone somehow the medal and doco get split, no one will know the story of F3c Thomas' sacrifice. Scott called to say what day(s) he want to volunteer and we discussed this....he's in favor of my having the Heart engraved with "F3c Stanley H. Thomas Reissue."   Mark sends

So, about the reissued medals.....every manner of paperwork associated with obtaining the Pearl Harbor Medallion and the second set of medals is here. Everything between his Grandfather (the sailor's brother, and the man who raised him) and the VA service rep and the Navy. So, on December 30th, 1991, he'd submitted the required paperwork to get the medallion, and the VSO went ahead and requested the medals. Surprisingly, the reissues were sent to him a little over 4 months later. My understanding is that the Navy doesn't engrave their reissued medals, which is probably why things went so fast - especially since he didn't rely on a congressman's intervention. When the Grandfather died in 1998, everything came to Scott. Scott has no one to leave any of his military items to, so he picked us. He still has the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet clasp and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal but couldn't find them before I got there. Naturally, without all the original doco this would look just like any other Purple Heart. Here's the medals so far. I've also included the photo(s) from the website auction.

I checked my one book for Twentynine Palms Air Academy (the glider pilot school) and he is not shown or listed in it.  The book does list the officers at the airfield as well as the instructors there at the time (early 1943).  I also checked my books from the contract Primary school that came there after the glider pilot school and he was not shown or listed in any of them either.  Glider pilot training began there in 1942 but I don't have any books from there in in 1942.

No need for anyone to pile on with this....this sailor's original Purple Heart appeared on the forum in 2012, and I've found where eMedals sold it at some point in time. Yesterday, his great nephew stopped in and while were discussing the Arizona he asked if I'd like to have his great uncle Stanley's medals, paperwork and portrait photo. We agreed that I'd drive to his house (about 30 minutes away) after I closed up for the day. While the last couple of hours passed, I looked up his uncle on Ancestry, which doesn't really have that much, so I did just a general interwebs search and of course photos of the original popped up. So I was pretty sure if he had medals, they would be reissued.  When I got to his house, he pulled out a well worn box with a bulging manilla envelope, 2 Graco-style blue medal cases, and the distinctive green case of the Pearl Harbor medallion. As he did so, he stated "A family member stole the original Purple Heart so these medals are reissued."  But, the medals aren't "new" reissues exactly. He eventually told me how his ex-wife had taken the original medal as well as his own from his Air Force career, which is why there's a reissue set of his awards.  I told him I'd seen his uncle's medal sold at auction and he was not happy to be sure. But, he understands it's gone and it's not coming back.   Now you know the main part of the back story.......   Mark sends

USS LCI(R)708, TG 51.15.3 (Rocket Support Group) at Iwo Jima on D-Day 19 January 1945. This photograph shows the gun crew for the bow 40mm gun (R-L) Roberts S1/c on phones; A. Myhre, S1/c, pointer; Tommie Alexander S1/c 1st leader; H. V. Rowland, RDM 3/c; E. Ruglie S2/c.  U.S. National Archives and Records Administration   A USS LCI(R)-708 20mm gun crew stares up at Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 17 Feb 1945.