Ed Guthrie
Edward Guthrie was born during the flu pandemic of 1918, died during the COVID-19 pandemic and lived 102 years in between. His death Thursday marked the end of an era.
The Omaha man was the state’s last known eyewitness to the Dec. 7, 1941, raid of Pearl Harbor.
In 2016, he shared his memories of the attack that killed more than 2,400 Americans and brought the U.S. into World War II.
Guthrie, a 23-year-old electrician’s mate 2nd class, was reading a comic book on the deck of the USS Whitney when the bombing began.
He watched in disbelief as a Japanese pilot in a red scarf passed close enough to wave at him.
“There were torpedo bombers coming down the chute right alongside of us, skimming over the water. They all wore those red scarves,” Guthrie said at a fundraiser for junior ROTC cadets planning a trip to Pearl Harbor. “I could see this pilot, and he waved at me, and I waved back. My shipmates said, ‘What did you do that for?’ I said, ‘As long as (the pilot) was waving, he wasn’t bombing.’”
Guthrie’s ship was a repair vessel berthed next to a line of destroyers and was not damaged in the attack. But he vividly recalled spending the next three days pulling bodies from the oil-soaked waters of the harbor.
“All those white sailor suits and that black oil ... they didn’t mix very well,” he said. “It’s something you don’t forget.”
In those days after the attack, Guthrie found an oily $5 bill floating in the water. He picked up the bill and kept it in his wallet for 45 years before having it laminated and putting it with other mementos.
In 2016, Guthrie, wife Janet and several family members attended the annual memorial ceremony in Hawaii.
“All the grandkids wanted me to go,” he said at the time. “This will probably be the last time.”
Ed Guthrie at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 2016. He, wife Janet and several family members attended. “All the grandkids wanted me to go,” he said at the time. “This will probably be the last time.” He died Thursday at age 102.
Guthrie was a war hero, said daughter Peggy Murphy.
“He was also a hero to our family,” she said. “If anybody needed anything he was there — always.”
For the duration of the war, Guthrie was reassigned to the USS Banner, and his ship headed for the Asiatic Pacific. In 1946, he witnessed atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific.
Then he returned to Omaha, began a 34-year career with the Omaha Public Power District and met Janet. Together, they raised three kids.
Guthrie was always there to coach his children’s sports teams. He also helped with Boy Scouts and took his children ice skating, sledding, camping and traveling.
“He and my mom both just wanted to make sure we got a lot of experiences,” Murphy said. “I used to think those were things every family did. Now when we look back on it, we see how wonderful it was.”
Janet and Ed were married for 72 years until Janet died of cancer in August.
Murphy said her mom’s death was very difficult on her dad.
“When she passed away, he really missed her a lot, and he didn’t want to be alone,” she said. “I think it brought him peace in the end knowing he would be with her.”
Her dad was healthy up to his last 28 hours, Murphy said.
“He had some memory loss, but he was still active to the end,” she said. “It was kind of a surprise, but in a way, that was good, too. I wouldn’t have wanted him to linger.”
Keeping the memory of Peal Harbor alive was important to Guthrie, who would give talks and presentations when he was able. Now, Murphy hopes to share the story.
An officer in the Nebraska chapter of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, Murphy said, “It’s important to keep the word out so that younger people will understand what happened, why it happened and where our country went from there.”
Guthrie leaves behind a legacy of perseverance and acceptance in the face of adversity.
“He faced so much without complaint,” Murphy said. “Whatever happened he accepted. It was his personality; he was easygoing, gentle and kind.”
A visitation will be held Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Roeder Mortuary at 2727 N. 108th St. A private family service will be held Thursday. A livestream of the service can be viewed at youtube.com/channel/UCV4QFcS1CP4cn-KPploMj6A.
Memorials can be directed to Lord of Love Lutheran Church at 10405 Fort St.
Guthrie was preceded in death by Janet and son James. He is survived by son John (Nancy) Guthrie; daughter Peggy (Paul) Murphy; daughter-in-law Karen Guthrie, six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren; and brother Church (Norma) Guthrie.
50 historical photos of the attack on Pearl Harbor
50 historical photos of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Three U.S. battleships are hit from the air during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan's bombing of U.S. military bases at Pearl Harbor brings the U.S. into World War II. From left are: USS West Virginia, severely damaged; USS Tennessee, damaged; and USS Arizona, sunk. (AP Photo)
The battleship USS California is afire and listing to port in the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, a Japanese plane goes into its last dive as it heads toward the ground in flames after it was hit by Naval anti-aircraft fire during a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
In this aerial photo provided by the U.S. Navy, smoke from the burning battleship Arizona spreads a pall over Pearl Harbor naval base, Dec. 7, 1941, as a Japanese plane dodged through anti-aircraft fire to drive home the Japanese attack that launched a war on the U.S. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Flaming oil throws a billow of smoke skyward in the Japanese attack on Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor, U.S. Air base near Honolulu, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
This photo shows the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Arizona is pictured in flames after the attack. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Torpedoed and bombed by the Japanese, the battleship USS West Virginia begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, center, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. The capsized USS Oklahoma is at right. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Firemen and civilians rush to the scene with fire hoses to save homes and stores in the Japanese and Chinese sections of Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. As Japanese aviators rained bombs on Pearl Harbor, starting war in the Pacific, offshore properties are also wrecked and burned. (AP Photo)
Youths inspect the wreckage of a Japanese bomber, Dec. 17, 1941 brought down by a United States P-40 plane during the Dec 7, 1941 attack on Oahu, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
Students of the Lunalilo High School in the Waikiki district of Honolulu watch their school burn after the roof of the main building, at center, is hit by a bomb during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
This is one of the first pictures of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. A P-40 plane which was machine-gunned while on the ground. (AP Photo)
Rider Joy Cummings examines a Japanese cherry tree that was cut down with the words "To hell with those Japanese," carved into it, Dec. 10, 1941. Irving C. Root, Parks Commissioner, termed it vandalism. In the background is the recently completed Jefferson Memorial. (AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, wreckage of a U.S. Army pursuit ship is seen after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps)
Ruth Lee, hostess at a Miami Chinese restaurant, seen Dec. 15, 1941, doesn't want to be mistaken for Japanese when she sunbathes on her days off, and brings along a Chinese flag. Miss Lee is actually American-born. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP File Photo)
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 1941 photo made available by the U.S. Navy, a small boat rescues a seaman from the USS West Virginia burning in the foreground in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after Japanese aircraft attacked the military installation. (U.S. Navy via AP, File)
FILE - American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo. (AP Photo, File)
Half a house was left of this resident of the Asian section of Honolulu in Japan's surprise bombing which wreaked havoc in nearby Pearl Harbor. Native and Japanese cyclists watch fireman pour water on wreckage on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the Department of Defense, U.S. aircraft destroyed as a result of the Japanese bombing on Pearl Harbor is shown, Dec. 7, 1941. Heap of demolished hanger in background Army amphibian in foreground. (AP Photo/DOD)
A bombed U.S. Army truck with wheel still ablaze after the surprise attack, Dec. 7, 1941, which touched off a new war in the Pacific. (AP Photo)
U.S. Army barracks burning after the surprise attack at Hickam Field, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
A Japanese plane, braving American anti-aircraft fire, proceeds toward “battleship row,” Pearl Harbor, after other bombers had hit USS. Arizona, from which smoke billows, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
An unidentified officers' wife, investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall in distance at 8:15 am Dec. 7, 1941, heard neighbor Mary Naiden, then an army hostess, exclaim “There are red circles on those planes overhead. They are Japanese!" A boy and a woman carrying a dog flee toward quarters. (AP Photo/Mary Naiden)
The wreckage of the U.S.S. Oklahoma as it lies in the mud at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii after the Japanese aerial attack on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, general view of the burning and damaged ships of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, during the Japanese aerial attack on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
The Lunalilo High School situated near the Waikiki district which was almost totally destroyed by fire from a bomb which hit the roof at the center part of the main building on Dec. 7, 1941. Four fire companies fought to save the school. Several homes all around the school caught fire - but were saved by the fire fighters. All families for blocks around brought their personal belongings outside of their homes, fearing another attack. (AP Photo)
The pilot of this Japanese plane met flaming death in the first surprise attack on the principal Hawaiian island of Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941, when his plane was shot down, rammed a residence and set the house and the one adjoining on fire. In the foreground is part of the plane wreckage. The pilot, later established as being at least six feet tall, was cremated. Japanese families resided in the two houses, which were destroyed. (AP Photo)
Battleship Arizona at pearl Harbor, December 1941. The photo was taken shortly after the battleship was bombed and destroyed during the surprise attack by Japanese forces, December 7, 1941. The vessel at right is a rescue tug. Flag still flying the ship is resting on the bottom of the ocean with decks flooded. (AP Photo)
Two ships are seen burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo)
Heavy black smoke billows as oil fuel burns from shattered tanks on ships that were hit during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Visible through the murk is the U.S. battleship Maryland, center, and the hulk of the capsized USS Oklahoma to the right of it. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Rescue workers help evacuate the Lunalilo High School in Honolulu after the roof of the main building was hit by a bomb during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Smoke still fogged the air at Pearl harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 as these tractors tugged at what the Navy said was a Japanese two-man submarine, not shown, pulling it up on the beach for inspection after it was disabled in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
A mass of twisted metal wreckage lay along a Honolulu street after the city had been attacked by Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
A small crowd inspects the damage, both inside and outside, after a Japanese bomb hit the residence of Paul Goo during the raid on Honolulu Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
U.S. Navy seamen examine the wreckage of a Japanese torpedo plane shot down at Pearl harbor during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Wreckage, identified by the U.S. Navy as a Japanese torpedo plane , was salvaged from the bottom of Pearl Harbor following the surprise attack Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
The wing of a Japanese bomber shot down on the grounds of the Naval Hospital at Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Japanese plane, proceeds toward "Battleship Row" at Pearl Harbor after other bombers had hit USS Arizona, from which smoke billows, Dec. 7, 1941. Photo was taken from the yard of Army's Hickam Field Quarters by Mrs. Mary Naiden of New York City. (AP Photo)
The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over into the sea during Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The ship sank with more than 80 percent of its 1,500-man crew, including Rear Admiral Issac C. Kidd. The attack, which left 2,343 Americans dead and 916 missing, broke the backbone of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and forced America out of a policy of isolationism. President Franklin D. Roosvelt announced that it was "a date which will live in infamy" and Congress declared war on Japan the morning after. This was the first attack on American territory since 1812. (AP Photo)
Planes are lined up at Hickham Field, Air Corps post on Oahu, Hawaii, in an undated image. Reports said that a Japanese bomb struck the field. Washington made the announcement Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Believed to be the first bomb dropped on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the sneak-attack on Dec. 7, 1941, this picture was found torn to pieces at Yokusuka Base by photographer's mate 2/C Martin J. Shemanski of Plymouth, Pa. One Japanese plane is shown pulling out of a dive near bomb eruption (center) and another the air at upper right. (AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the Department of Defense, a battered American flag flies in the foreground at the military barracks at Hickam Field near Honolulu, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo/DOD)
Japanese family move their household goods out on their lawn, for fear of the fire spreading to their home from a fire caused by a falling bomb only a half block away during the air raid on Oahu, Hawaii on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Black smoke pours from the U.S. Destroyer USS Shaw after a direct hit by bombs during the surprise aerial attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Defenders on the pier at left throw water into the blazing wreckage. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Smoke clouds the sky over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, as two sailors crouch with rifles on the pier at the submarine base trying to locate an enemy to fire on during World War II. Submarines berthed nearby are USS Tautog and USS Narwhal. (AP Photo)
In this image provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, destroyers in drydock at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii are battered by bombs after Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Background in dock is battleship Pennsylvania, which suffered only minor damage. Destroyers are Downes, left, and Cassin, right. Machinery and fittings were transferred to new hulls and the destroyers were never stricken from Navy's active list. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of Defense)
jwade@owh.com, 402-444-1067
Jessica Wade
Jessica Wade covers breaking news, crime and the Omaha zoo. Follow her on Twitter @Jess_Wade_OWH. Phone: 402-444-1067
