"On the day I swore into the Air Force, I was still in my Navy uniform," he said. He likes to wear a cap that identifies him as a veteran of the Arizona. To prepare for the trip, they were studying World War II history, attending lectures, writing research papers. "We saved people on commercial ships on the seas, we rescued missionaries in the interior of China, we shot up a bunch of pirates," Anderson said. "When somebody says get out of here and you're on a hundred tons of ammunition, well, you don't question it," he says. "I bought it at the receiving station in Pearl Harbor. Bruner was the second-to-last man to leave the sinking ship. The ones that gave him nightmares, the stories from the day he nearly burned to death, he kept to himself. He can tell stories about his years with the diving crews, but the truck has evolved into a reminder of another time. A bow. He signed up for a Navy program that allowed college graduates to attend officer candidate school and emerge as ensigns within three months. Alcohol. "We're right-arm rates." Bruner, who turned 94 in November, is now one of nine living USS Arizona crewmen who survived the ship's sinking. The man in the boat was from Muskogee, a town about 40 miles east of Morris. 1914-1941:The mightiest ship at sea | Dec. 7, 1941: The attack that changed the world| Documentary: 'Witness to Infamy' | 2014: The final toast. "I told another kid if they come back again tonight, I'm leaving.". Stratton could not. He joined the Navy because it seemed like a better environment. He will tell his story to people he knows well and trusts, but he is 93 and the details are fading from his memory. He had chased Japanese soldiers along the coast of China three years before America declared war on Japan. They are reminders of a moment in time he can never escape, a moment he sees again and again. It took Ray Jr. years, decades to piece together his father's story. We swept the decks and took the small bones. did sharks attack titanic survivors. The man walked over and looked at Langdell's name tag. "They gave me 30 minutes to get off the ship and catch a transport to San Diego for training," he said. He will tell his story if he's asked and he will remember details along the way. "I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw that day.". "I witnessed your attack from Ford Island. But he is proud of his service, of the other sailors on the Arizona. The license plate reads USS ARIZ. A mural on a white bed cover depicts the USS Arizona and the memorial that floats above it in Pearl Harbor. Conter's crews flew missions across the South Pacific: New Guinea, Borneo, New Britain, the coast off Perth, Australia. Their backs are gray, blue, or brown in color and covered with regularly arranged light spots. Before the trip, Langdell hadn't talked much about his years in the war, about his time on the Arizona. "When I got back home, my doctors here wanted to know about my medical background," Bruner said. That summer, the ship joined others for the invasion at Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands, one of the first major assaults against Japan by the Americans. He gazes at the picture. Pearl Harbor became one of the major reason for the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy (in 1893) and the kingdoms annexation (in 1898) by the US government.The Spanish American war began that same year in the Philippines and Cuba which ended with the US winning both territories from the Spanish. But he clutches the cap and puts it on as he sits in an easy chair by the window. He missed enough of his classes that he was finally asked to leave. "He remembers body parts in the water, charred burned bodies that he swam by," his son Ray, Jr., says. After high school, Langdell enrolled at Boston University, working nights to pay for his classes, and in 1938, he earned a degree in business administration. He and Libby moved west to Walnut Creek east of San Francisco. Cha c sn phm trong gi hng. Dec 12 2014. He would work in the port director's office, delivering sealed packets to the captains of Navy ships. The war's over.". USS Indianapolis was a Portland class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. Late in the year, after an overhaul in San Francisco, the Coghlan returned to patrol duty off the Aleutians with a half dozen other U.S. vessels. His wife, Libby, who died two years ago. For a long time, he didn't think he would ever return to Pearl Harbor. Tensions between Japan and the U.S. simmered throughout the early 20th century and came to a boil in the 1930s as Japan attempted to conquer China, even . The studios needed tough men who could handle dangerous situations. His own battle station was beneath the gun turret shattered by the last bomb to hit the Arizona. He stayed there for months. In time, he felt no anger toward the Japanese, but he couldn't forget what they did. They respected a guy who survived such a horrific attack. Langdell says only this: "It took two days to take all the bodies. Colombia. "One day our boat was stacked with two dollar bills," he said. "I didn't have the slightest idea what would happen when I signed up," he said. A total of 2,403 Americans died in the tragic attack 80 years ago and for many families there was never closure as bodies remained unidentified or left amongst the wreckage. He worked his way up to crew chief on a squadron of B-26 bombers, After 18 months overseas, he returned to Langley Field in Virginia. I quit. He squeezes past the pool table, past the photos and the maps and the medals. medge. He joined the USS Arizona Reunion Association and stays in touch with a few of the remaining survivors. They danced. "Randy, come and turn on the music box." Nobody could debate what that was, no question about it.". A few years later, a new station owner showed Anderson his plans to start a TV station. Song's got some zip to it, he said. "The nights up there were already short, so I didn't get much sleep," Cook says. The telegram, which misspelled Conter's last name, promises further information and asks his family not to divulge Conter's posting. Without them, Riel said, who knows where we'd be today. "We had to have two crews, a regular crew and a stand-by crew lined up waiting," Bruner said. The burn ward filled with the injured. He's not so fond of the crowds around Honolulu and doesn't plan to go back. The body parts we put in pillow cases. "I came back to the pier one morning and my name was on the list to do KP work," he says. Using its sonar equipment, the ship fired depth charges and eventually sank the enemy submarine. "When they dropped that bomb that made our ammunition explode, it dang near broke the ship in two, so we couldn't go anywhere forward of that," he says. "We don't think you'd make it. LaRocque took Anderson to San Pedro, where his current ship was anchored. We were going to have a date the next day. In California, he earned his naval seaman's license and went to work on a drilling rig offshore near Santa Barbara. He has told her about his escape from the Arizona. A few years ago, the Cooks attended a fund-raising dinner at a local American Legion post. "He called me one night and said if you won't let me come to California, I found a lady who's got a new black Buick and I'm going to move to Texas.". Uncle Ray was nearing the end of his career in 1937 when John and Jake both decided to enlist. "Cover the decks, anywhere you can find them up to the top of the masts.". In 1887 the harbor's military history began when the US Navy set up coaling stations in the harbor. The ship was moored in the shallows of Pearl Harbor's . "We'd patrol at night. The band members had decided they wanted to honor survivors from that day. A sailor on the repair ship Vestal, tied up nearby, spotted them and threw them a line. We carefully wrapped them in sheets. He asked if Jeanne could come with him. Once a week, they motor on into Tulsa, where Marietta takes a china painting class and Lonnie wanders the aisles of sporting-goods stores. popeyes vs chicken express; do venmo requests expire He was able to visit the national cemetery at an area called the Punch Bowl. He was soon flying one of the Navy's Black Cats, a squadron of long-range patrol bombers painted black for night missions. The Navy occasionally cuts away small bits of the wreckage for memorials. Abe's Pearl Harbor speech has been well received in Japan, where most people expressed the opinion that it struck the right balance of regret that the Pacific war occurred, but offered . The men, their charred skin peeling away, climbed hand-over-hand across the line to safety. He introduced him to other officers. On one mission, Haerry's tender was tied to a larger ship as the crew delivered supplies and completed maintenance tasks. The Coghlan left San Francisco in September 1942 and sailed toward Pearl Harbor for an assignment. Anderson spoke to one of the tanker's crew about towing the Macdonough. They moved to Santa Maria, not far from Santa Barbara, to be near their oldest son, then to Colorado Springs to be near Randy. By April 1940, the Navy seemed like a good idea and by summer, he was on board the Arizona, stationed at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. An impressive collection of restaurant menus from 30 years of cross-country searches for used cars. Many places around the world are named for a stand-out feature, and Pearl Harbor is no different. Bruner was at his battle station in an anti-aircraft gun director, a metal box on the forward mast of the Arizona, when an armor-piercing bomb ignited the ship's powder magazine. He was treated there for four months. "Why do you like the hat, dad?" He didn't know what to tell them. Explosions rocked the vessel and fires burned into the evening. pearl harbor 1941. uss arizona. Sailors found food and shelter wherever they could. He touches the diving helmet. Whale sharks can grow to 65 feet in length and weigh up to 75,000 pounds. He looks forward to his time with the guys from his years in the Navy. When he reaches that part of his story, he stops. UPDATE:John Anderson diedin November 2015, less than a year after this report. He gave Anderson the name of a contact there. "Sometimes, we'd come back, eat, then sleep on the beach.". A year after World War II ended, Haerry went home for a while and married a girl he'd met not long before. Stratton told her why: He had been aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. Fires still burned on the broken USS Arizona the morning after the Japanese ambush. The parties sometimes dragged into the early morning hours. The ship accompanied General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines and was anchored in the harbor off Nagasaki, Japan, when the second atomic bomb exploded. "Here we are, we can't see the enemy. This list and the accompanying graphics do not include encounters in which a shark does not actually bite a person or board (e.g. "It's where the war started.". person grazed by a shark), nor incidents classified by the International Shark Attack File as boat attacks, scavenge, or doubtful. "The Arizona was a fighting battleship," Joe says. Once a month or so, Clarendon Hetrick's phone rings with a call from Utah. "We made friends. Here's what he revealed: The USS Arizona (BB-39) burns after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. But he could not be prepared for what he found on the charred hulk of the battleship. In the years after, he became active in survivors' groups and started going back to Pearl Harbor more often. He won't talk much about the escape, or about the men who didn't make it across. Of the 1,196 men aboard, 900 made it into the water alive. He told Ray about the plans to honor Pearl Harbor survivors at the statehouse. There are a few personal photos on the table, but nothing from his years in the Navy. Conter was talking about survival, about coming back alive. "If somebody in authority said do something back then, you didn't question it. At nights, Anderson was taking classes in meteorology and electronics, trying to learn skills that could help him stand out among all the returning servicemen and women. You can't leave the Navy.". She returned, puzzled. As they walked toward it, Langdell reeled at an odor. They moved to Modesto, Calif., where he got a job driving a produce truck in the fruit orchards. "It gets your breath when you first see it," he says. "Are there any officers from the Arizona here?" At 93, he is one of the last survivors ofthe attack on the Arizona. As far he was concerned he was saving lives.". "Cut!" They will celebrate 65 years of marriage in April. He had five brothers, including Jake, and four sisters, all grouped so close in age that paying for college wasn't practical for their folks. Discipline seems less important than it was in his day. Schenkelberg was no stranger to hardships . The flare exploded and started a fire, which forced the plane into the water. They met at a dance at the YWCA on North State Street. Anderson has returned to the Arizona memorial often and has taken his family there. The planes took off and landed on the water; the pilots tied up to buoys near the ship. He was still active, so would report to the Navy Pier each morning to check a list for the names of sailors who had been given duties for the day. He got to know Alan Ladd, who had starred in a series of war movies. As the USS Arizona burned and sunk into the harbor, Stratton and five other men had been trapped on an anti-aircraft gun control platform on the ship's foremast, burned in a fireball when below-deck ammunition exploded. Pearl Harbor: Directed by Michael Bay. Haerry accepted the medal, but found he could not speak. Langdell had borrowed a car, a Dusenburg, for the honeymoon. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. Eighty years later, many of those killed are finally returning home and being laid to rest. By the time they were back, the icicles were forming again and two more guys would go out.". The worst shark attack in recorded history also happened to be a disaster for the US Navy. "Iremember hearing explosions at first," he says. He went to work as a junior accountant for a prominent Boston firm. Then they'd go by.". He owns a chunk of the ship's burned deck, a reminder he keeps in a box with a few other items. Inside the packets were the captains' new orders, military secrets, classified information that required clearance to handle. BuzzFeed News Photo Editor. After Pearl Harbor, Langdell asked for a posting on one of the new destroyers the Navy was set to launch. The mangled bodies such as J.J. Astor was probably caused by the 1st smokestack falling into the water and. "He saved six people's lives. He says that decision was the best thing he could have done. Thickets of tangled shrubs and rows of trees are visible from his window. He jumped into the harbor, even though he had never passed his swimming test. Anderson's road to the radio booth started in Hollywood, with a screen test at a studio where he had worked. Five years later, in 2011, he got a call from the band director at Timpview High School in Provo. "Sure, let's see it." He hasn't hunted in a while, though he still reloads his own ammunition on a garage workbench. His service on the Arizona also seemed to give him added credibility among the young sailors. Anderson would serve another 23 years before finally retiring once more. Except the cap. There's a little air bubble. By then, he'd seen the world, witnessed history before it was history. A carnivorous shark diet usually includes fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. All those sailors from all those places and here was a guy who was practically a neighbor. An electro-mechanical computer would aim the guns. His dad has never sought recognition for his service on the Arizona and barely talks about the day of the attack. Sometimes, Japanese pilots attended memorial ceremonies and some of the other survivors would shake their hands. He had stopped at Pearl Harbor more than a decade earlier, on his way to a posting in Korea. When the fourth bomb detonated in the powder magazine, anyone left was blown over the side. It was carrying parts of the Little Boy atomic bomb as a top secret mission and the Navy learned about its sinking four days after ot was torpedoed. As he prepared for his new posting on the Frazier, Langdell decided to make a move. Stratton falls easily into the memories of his years on diving boats. Posted on . Kitchen patrol. 4 Comments. Conter had made friends with a young lady in Honolulu. did sharks eat pearl harbor victimshavelock wool australia. Stratton's eyes brighten. Bruner looked each recruit in the eyes to determine the right job, but he wasn't testing their mettle, not yet. Finally, after a few weeks on the tanker, Potts was handed a new assignment. "Through all that, I never did lose consciousness," he says. It was Sunday and some of the crewmen with liberty wanted an early start. Chile. Hetrick was on board during battles at Midway and Wake Island and for the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima early in 1945. They stayed composed as their stories were told, stories of bravery, of quick thinking. Or both. Among those killed were over 1,700 aboard the USS Arizona, 103 . The USS Arizona ballcap that almost every survivor owns and wears. "You," the fellow said. The crews were based on tender ships moored in secluded harbors. Cook was assigned to the USS Patterson, then two months later, transferred to the Aylwin, a destroyer that had been moored at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 and engaged the bombers as the attack began. December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Casualties. He handed the microphone to his son, Raymond Haerry, Jr., who spoke of his father's courage and resilience. With his experience running cranes on the Arizona, Potts figures he could have landed a decent job at the Geneva Steel operation, but he didn't want to work shifts, so he worked as a carpenter again and eventually went into the used car business with a friend. As a youngster, Anderson heard stories about the Navy from his uncle, a man named Ray Stokes. "I was on a date on that Saturday night with a gal I'd been running around with," he says. Octopus. We got as close as 5,000 yards, which was point-blank for those ships. Today, he tries to pass on what he knows to students of history. Some even like to dine on smaller shark species! Ke awa lau o Puuloa, the bay and lochs that make up the complex most people know simply as Pearl Harbor, was once the home of the guardian sharks, Kaahuphau and her brother Kahiuk. "I'd never seen so many guys with so much guts," he said. Occasionally, they would close the store and hook a 33-foot trailer to a pick-up truck. Nope. Other crewmen would roll out the shell, use a mechanical device to ram it in, then load four bags of powder behind it. With eyes too close or two far apart, a crewman could deliver faulty readings. One day, he stopped for coffee at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. We got into a run-and-gun battle. The Navy censors would never allow such information in a letter. A framed painting of the Arizona, the repair ship Vestal next to it. He will meet three other survivors in Hawaii for their last reunion. "I got the lay a wreath in front of the names of the fallen," he says quietly. The ship carried four 5-inch anti-aircraft guns and six half-inch machine guns, and, initially, five 21-inch torpedo tubes. "I went back and told my mother I wasn't going up there anymore," he said. "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. Browse 2,614 pearl harbor attack stock photos and images available, or search for world war ii or pearl harbor 1941 to find more great stock photos and pictures. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval base in a surprise attack. Three days had passed since Japanese bombers had punched a fiery hole in the Navy's Pacific fleet. Afew weeks after the war started, sometime in early 1942, Potts opened a letter from his mother. His oldest son had joined the Navy and his first posting was aboard the USS Ouellet, a frigate. Medals. Langdell knew Libby was friends with a skater in the Ice Follies, which was summering in San Francisco. "Hi," he said, introducing himself. "After 36 hours, I still hadn't put in a day. Hetrick, who is 91, has outlived most of the men he knew on the Saratoga. "Here's the one that told my mother I was missing in action on the Arizona," he says. He started chatting up a regular customer, a contractor, and got a job building houses. His dad will return finally at his death. The man told him later he had broken both his hips in one of the explosions and had survived only because Hetrick was there to urge him on. About halfway through the cruise, the Pringle was ordered to accompany the battleship Iowa to Africa, where President Roosevelt was to attend a conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Morocco. On Veteran's Day, he participated once more in a parade through Marysville, the next town over from Yuba City. Nightmares invade his sleep when he remembers those final moments. It was as if he had none. He looked for what he called medium spacing. "He's there for me. He helped rescue some of his shipmates. From the Vestal, Bruner was taken to the USS Solace, a hospital ship in the harbor. "These captains of the ships, when they left the states, they had no idea where they were going, just that they're going via Pearl Harbor," Potts said. Squid. In 2006, Langdell walked along the steep shoreline of Ford Island, the Arizona memorial in the background. There are over 470 species of sharks throughout the world. Cook was the gun captain on the Pringle at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. The nurse who checks in on him regularly likes Haerry. Naming Pearl Harbor. Conter was stationed on the Arizona at Pearl Harbor in September 1941, when he turned 20. They generally prefer the shallows in temperate, tropical regions, which is usually where divers and surfers come into contact with them and potentially become the victims of shark trauma. 11 Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivors (Updated 2021) December 7, 1941 is a date that everyone in America has committed to memory. He sits in his wheelchair as his son recites the narrative, keeping his father's story alive. I think that's what kept me living to this day.". They eventually bought a home-furnishings outlet farther inland and finally built their own store in Yuba City, north of Sacramento. The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor. UPDATE: Bruner died in 2019. He grew up in New Jersey and after high school, enrolled at MIT in Boston. Keeping the memories alive. Anderson demanded to know. The Saratoga sailed across the South Pacific, to Guam, the Philippines, around New Guinea. His new employer manufactured industrial refrigeration units. Haerry straightened in his seat as his story was told. Stratton logged thousands of miles of travel. For a while, the young family lived in Puerto Rico as Haerry, now a chief boatswain's mate, drew new assignments aboard his tender. Before the end of the war, he went to San Diego for gunner's mate school. Almost three decades later, he was the plant manager, second-in-command. The steeple clock chimed and a statue of an angel wielding a sword emerged from an alcove and knocked Anderson off the steeple. "You I know.") A second telegram, dated Jan. 6 reported that Conter was alive and would contact his family. His son reaches in the cab and queues up one of the hundreds of songs he and his daughter downloaded onto the new MP3 player. The Coghlan supported Army landings and Navy bombing runs. Joe had met Elizabeth McGauhy in Chicago half a decade earlier. Did he know anything about meteorology? They would be married in San Francisco, before the Frazier set sail. Cook worked in California, mostly welding jobs, until the union he belonged to called a strike. "They said what a wonderful place it was to live, with jobs and everything, so I bought a little place up in Spanish Fork," he says, "I'm still looking for that easy money.". "That's what I want to remember. The ones after that were, too. I even had a couple of dates with girls.". I said, 'You send her over, I'll re-enlist.' "I don't think we'll ever be able to swim to shore. But he became restless. / Reuters. 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