Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is one of the most historic flags we have offered. Recovered by John R. Cooke Jr. while on salvage duty on Ford Island on December 8th, 1941, this flag of the USS Vestal was found in a pile of burning flags left to the elements, and these burn marks are still very prominent on the flag.

This incredible part of one American History most tragic days was recently acquired following the closure of a long-running private museum, that consisted of a collection of artifacts which started to be obtained in 1942. This flag has been on display in the museum since the early 1960s after it was obtained from the veteran who salvaged the flag as a grim souvenir of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The flag has never been offered on the collector’s market before now.

On 6 December 1941, the USS Vestal was moored alongside USS Arizona, at berth F 7, off Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, to provide services to the battleship during her scheduled period of tender upkeep between 6 and 12 December. On December 7 shortly before 08:00 Japanese carrier-based aircraft swept down upon Pearl Harbor. At 07:55, Vestal went to general quarters, manning every gun. At about 08:05, her 3-inch (76 mm) gun commenced firing.

At about the same time, two bombs – intended for the more valuable battleship inboard on Battleship Row – hit the repair ship. One struck the port side, penetrated three decks, passed through a crew's space, and exploded in a storage hold, starting fires that necessitated flooding the forward magazines. The second hit the starboard side, passed through the carpenter shop and the shipfitter shop, and left an irregular hole about five feet in diameter in the bottom of the ship.

The flag, which measures roughly 46 x 64”, is stenciled along the header USS VESTAL, with the following inscription next to it:

I pulled this from a pile of burning flags
While on Salvage Duty, Ford Island
Pearl Harbor, December 8 1941
John R. Cooke Jr.
U.S. Army 1939-1945

From a February 23rd, 1941 Copy of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, we found that John R. Cooke was serving as a Private First Class in the Service Company, 27th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Schofield Barracks. This lines up, as the 27th Infantry were some of first to fire back at attacking Japanese war planes during Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Being in the Service Company, it would also line up that he would be placed on Salvage Duty.

The flag was crudely folded into a triangle and displayed in a small box in the museum. We have removed it from the box in order to display it better. This flag would be a tremendous candidate for proper museum-grade framing. As shown, the flag has suffered some serious burn damage from being in the pile Cooke pulled it from. There is a large tear in the top red stripe roughly halfway through, and another bit of loss in the 8th stripe overall, directly below the blue canton. There are several other small rips and holes as shown, which all contribute heavily to the character of this tremendous flag.

Unfortunately due to the commonness of his name, we couldn’t find much else on Cooke, but there is absolutely more to be found! This would be a tremendous research project. 

The flag comes with its original museum display sign that depicts the inscription on the flag. The sign measures 6 x 18”.

This flag is a true national treasure and deserves to be admired and respected as a memory of the worst attack on U.S. soil up to that point and the event that launched the United States into the most devastating conflict in human history.