A Pearl Harbor Zippo

Years ago, I was a tobacconist. The shop in which I worked carried collectable Zippo cigarette lighters and we had a number of reference books designed to help us date and grade Zippos that belonged to customers.

One day, a young man came into the shop and said he'd like to show me something. He handed me the familiar small cardboard box that Zippos came in before the Age of Plastic. I opened it to find an original Zippo purchased in the ship stores of the USS Arizona (BB-39)! He said his great-uncle had gone down with the ship on 7 December 1941, but he had sent the lighter home after buying it, so he would have it when he came back. 

We did some rough maths. The USS Arizona had a complement of just over 1,000 men. Since most men of military age were smokers at the time, we assumed that 80% of them might have bought a lighter as a memento of their time on the vessel. Of those, how many would have sent it home? We figured only 5-10% of them since most would have used them when the smoking lamp was on. So, 80% of 1,000 is 800, and 5-10% of 800 is 40-80. The rest would have gone to the bottom with their owners.

I told him there was no way I could put a value on it. He said that he wasn't worried about that because if it ever left the family's possession it would be donated to a museum.

It was a moving experience, holding that artefact of the Day That Will Live in Infamy.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget!