USS Oklahoma's Mast Comes Home 68 Years Later

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

MIDWEST CITY, Oklahoma -- It's been a long time since December 7, 1941, and it's a long way from Hawaii to Oklahoma. But time and distance were overcome at Tinker Air Force Base as an important part of Oklahoma history came home.

The battleship Oklahoma was one of the first casualties in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over four hundred men died. Ed Vezey still has vivid memories.

"I went to battle with pajama pants, a cap, my boxers and a .45," said Ed Vezey, USS Oklahoma survivor.

That was the last time Ed Vezey saw the Oklahoma until Monday, when an Air Force cargo plane landed at Tinker Air Force Base. On board was one of the Oklahoma's masts. Vezey said it's hard for non-sailors to appreciate how important a ship is to sailors.

"It's your mother, your home, and if you spent a lot of time at sea as we did, it's the fundamental island of security," Vezey said. "This is a piece of the Oklahoma coming home."

The mast had lain at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, undisturbed, for more than sixty years. But then in 2006 it was discovered during a dredging operation.

The mast might have been destroyed by the Navy, were it not for a call from the Batfish War Memorial in Muskogee to Pearl Harbor.

"I made the phone call over to Hawaii and asked the guy if they had anything left over from the USS Oklahoma and the guy just started laughing," said Rod Mish, a Batfish War Memorial volunteer.

It took a while but last Friday the 45 foot mast was loaded aboard a cargo plane for the flight to Oklahoma. The 22,000 pound mast will be put on display in Muskogee.

"It's become like the Holy Grail of Oklahoma," said Mish.

The mast will begin its journey from Tinker Air Force Base to Muskogee on Wednesday.