Pearl Harbor, December 7.

National Day: Day of Remembrance.

Time and Date: December 7 - Pearl Harbor.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the American Army and Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The attack came as a surprise to the American Army and Navy and lead to great losses of life and equipment. More than 2000 American citizens were killed and more than 1000 were injured. The Americans also lost a large proportion of their battle ships and nearly 200 aircraft that were stationed in the Pacific region.

Mercury News (via Archive): Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — just three survivors of the USS Arizona remain.

The three remaining USS Arizona survivors are Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts.

Don Stratton was 19 at the time of the attack.

Lou Conter was 20 during the attack.

Ken Potts was 20 during the surprise attack.

The USS Arizona Memorial

Reader's Digest: A Powerful Firsthand Account of What Really Happened at Pearl Harbor.

It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer speak. Then what will become of everything I experienced on December 7, 1941? That’s why I wrote this account.

Lou Conter, last survivor of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, dies at 102.

WVXU: Lou Conter, last survivor of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, dies at 102.

Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, has died at the age of 102.

Conter, who was a 20-year-old quartermaster at the time of the naval assault, was on the back decks of the battleship on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces decimated the U.S. Pacific fleet. The unprecedented attack killed 1,177 on the Arizona, with over 900 of those individuals never recovered.

As the bombs rained down on the naval base, one landed between two main guns at the front of the Arizona. The explosion ignited a huge store of TNT black powder that was used for the ship's battery guns.

"There went a million pounds of powder," Conter recalled in a 2018 interview with the American Veterans Center. "It blew up!"

The explosion was so intense that it split the ship in two, "and the bow came up about 30, 40 feet out of the water and fell straight back down," he remembered.

The strike was catastrophic and it only took about 10 minutes for the ship to sink, David Kilton, a spokesman for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, told NPR.

Meanwhile, amid the chaos, Conter abandoned the ship and eventually made it to safety, only to be ordered onto a rescue boat to help pull bodies from the water. "Some of those were individuals in distress, trying to figure out how to swim around the huge quantities of oil that had leaked out and the flames that were on the water," Kilton said.

"Guys were coming out of the fire, and we were just grabbing them and laying them down," Conter later said. "They were real bad. You would pick them up by the bodies, and the skin would come off in your hands."
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After WWII, Conter went on to serve in the Korean War. Later, he became the Navy's first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. For years, he helped establish the program, training Navy pilots and crew how to survive if they were shot down in the jungle and captured as prisoners of war.

By the end of his 27-year career in the Navy, in 1967, he'd risen to the ranks of lieutenant commander. He then moved to California, became a real estate developer, and married his second wife, Valerie. They were together for 47 years.

Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., following congestive heart failure. 

Rest In Peace.

Pearl Harbor, December 7.

National Day: Day of Remembrance.

Time and Date: December 7 - Pearl Harbor.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the American Army and Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The attack came as a surprise to the American Army and Navy and lead to great losses of life and equipment. More than 2000 American citizens were killed and more than 1000 were injured. The Americans also lost a large proportion of their battle ships and nearly 200 aircraft that were stationed in the Pacific region.

Mercury News (via Archive): Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — just three survivors of the USS Arizona remain.

The three remaining USS Arizona survivors are Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts.

Don Stratton was 19 at the time of the attack.

Lou Conter was 20 during the attack.

Ken Potts was 20 during the surprise attack.

The USS Arizona Memorial

Reader's Digest: A Powerful Firsthand Account of What Really Happened at Pearl Harbor.

It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer speak. Then what will become of everything I experienced on December 7, 1941? That’s why I wrote this account.

Pearl Harbor, December 7.

National Day: Day of Remembrance.

Time and Date: December 7 - Pearl Harbor.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the American Army and Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The attack came as a surprise to the American Army and Navy and lead to great losses of life and equipment. More than 2000 American citizens were killed and more than 1000 were injured. The Americans also lost a large proportion of their battle ships and nearly 200 aircraft that were stationed in the Pacific region.

Mercury News (via Archive): Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — just three survivors of the USS Arizona remain.

The three remaining USS Arizona survivors are Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts.

Don Stratton was 19 at the time of the attack.

Lou Conter was 20 during the attack.

Ken Potts was 20 during the surprise attack.

The USS Arizona Memorial

Reader's Digest: A Powerful Firsthand Account of What Really Happened at Pearl Harbor.

It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer speak. Then what will become of everything I experienced on December 7, 1941? That’s why I wrote this account.

Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 - 78 years ago.

National Day: Day of Remembrance.

Time and Date: December 7, 2019 - Pearl Harbor.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the American Army and Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The attack came as a surprise to the American Army and Navy and lead to great losses of life and equipment. More than 2000 American citizens were killed and more than 1000 were injured. The Americans also lost a large proportion of their battle ships and nearly 200 aircraft that were stationed in the Pacific region.

Mercury News (via Archive): Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — just three survivors of the USS Arizona remain.

The three remaining USS Arizona survivors are Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts.

Don Stratton was 19 at the time of the attack.

Lou Conter was 20 during the attack.

Ken Potts was 20 during the surprise attack.

American Military News: 2,400 Americans died at Pearl Harbor 78 years ago today.

The USS Arizona Memorial

Reader's Digest: A Powerful Firsthand Account of What Really Happened at Pearl Harbor.

It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer speak. Then what will become of everything I experienced on December 7, 1941? That’s why I wrote this account.

Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

AZ Central: Pearl Harbor, 77 years ago:

After 77 years, the story of the mighty battleship has been told again and again: how it took heavy fire, how a bomb blew it apart, how it sank into the harbor.

Over time, other stories from the Arizona have emerged, about unsung heroes and harrowing escapes. But some stories have never been told, especially stories about the 1,177 crew members who died in the attack.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: 77 years later, families honor the dead.

Time and Date: December 7, 2018 - Pearl Harbor

The flag should be flown at half-mast to honor those who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

National Today: Day of Remembrance.

From Holidays Today

The personal stories.

The Salt Lake Tribune: “It’s strange, isn’t it," Bruce Holmes said, “to be here honoring a 19-year-old kid killed 77 years ago.”

EyeWitness To History: The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over.

Reader's Digest - A Must Read:

It has been said that when an old person dies, it is like a library burning down. For the past 75 years, I have tried to share what I remember of World War II, but a day will come when I can no longer speak. Then what will become of everything I experienced on December 7, 1941? That’s why I wrote this account.

Liberty Letters: Eyewitness account by Ruth Erickson

My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude Arnest, was saying, "Girls, get into your uniforms at once, This is the real thing!"

I was in my room by that time changing into uniform. It was getting dusky, almost like evening. Smoke was rising from burning ships.

Bustle (from December 7, 2015) - Five Pearl Harbor Survivor Stories.

USS Arizona Pearl Harbor Memorial

More on Pearl Harbor at:

Ninety Miles From Tyranny

The Right Way

The War on Guns 

It Ain't Holy Water

The Last Tradition

Political Clown Parade

Blogodidact

This Ain't Hell