As the boat heaved, the man with the ax missed and hit Haerry's hand, nearly severing it from his wrist. Hetrick earned a Purple Heart for wounds during one of the bombing raids. "Are there any officers from the Arizona here?" At 93, he is one of the last survivors ofthe attack on the Arizona. He found a report by a gunner's mate. 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. Rays. He went out to the floating memorial. "It ain't worth a damn if it ain't loaded," he says. On a recent fall afternoon, Stratton ambles down the driveway and fires up the engine. Why Did Pearl Harbor Happen? Trains run close enough to hear the horns during the day, but not close enough to make them a nuisance. The mast and towers near the bow tilted at a sickening angle. Lonnie and Marietta Cook met in Morris after the war, but the road to their home here today winds thousands of miles across the country. The ship was moored in the shallows of Pearl Harbor's . Or both. Only a few hundred people lived there then. He got the west coast and I got the east coast. Her father was an engineer and a top executive for a dredging company with a big Navy contract. A lot of people agree that what George did was heroic, but the Navy balks at every step, in part because George disobeyed a direct order. He took up golf seriously in Palm Springs and played in the Bob Hope Classic six times, once on a team with crooner Johnny Mathis. The family sold maple syrup distilled from the trees on their farm. On Oct. 12, Langdell celebrated his 100th birthday with with his older son, John, who flew in from Spearfish, S.D. As he waited, he had a feeling he knew what would happen, but he didn't say anything. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness. He clashed with the station manager of the radio station and finally quit. Inside the packets were the captains' new orders, military secrets, classified information that required clearance to handle. They moved to Santa Maria, not far from Santa Barbara, to be near their oldest son, then to Colorado Springs to be near Randy. His dad has never sought recognition for his service on the Arizona and barely talks about the day of the attack. The fireball from the explosion engulfed the six men in the box and trapped them. At this one, he was looking around the room and he saw a picture of a sailor way back in the back, in a setting arranged like a memorial. He was able to visit the national cemetery at an area called the Punch Bowl. On one mission, Haerry's tender was tied to a larger ship as the crew delivered supplies and completed maintenance tasks. He jumped into the harbor, even though he had never passed his swimming test. In January, another ship took him to San Francisco to the Navy hospital on Treasure Island. "What's up with this one? That fateful day led the United States . His younger son believes the experience changed his dad forever. I said, 'You send her over, I'll re-enlist.' It identifies Stratton as a survivor of the attack that sank the ship. He was on Ford Island when the Japanese attacked, training for new assignment. With a total of 1,195 men aboard, about 300 went down with the ship. But John Anderson, the Navy chief petty officer who called himself Cactus Jack on the air, had a good head start already. / Reuters. In 1940, Anderson reported to the Arizona once more, joining his brother for the first time since they had enlisted. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Cook was changing clothes at his locker, savoring the thought of a day in Honolulu with the $60 he'd won in a craps game the night before. Put in eight years at least and you'll have a pension, he promised. He half-swam, half-walked the 70 yards to Ford Island and manned a mounted machine gun. Cook is invited to such events occasionally and sometimes introduced as an Arizona survivor. Survivors' groups wanted to find all of them so their stories would not be lost. "They were holed up behind sandbags, but they never got hit.". "We didn't hear much from the outside at first," Hetrick said. "If somebody in authority said do something back then, you didn't question it. A young sailor ran in, out of breath. His name never appeared and he would leave for the day. The easy stories he'd tell. A woman from Illinois drew Bruner's name. Then they'd go by.". 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. Once a shark finds its prey, it needs to decide on whether to eat or not based on smell and appearance. A few years after that, they left for Las Vegas, where their son, Bob, and his family help them get around. He was still adjusting to his new life in Colorado, hundreds of miles inland from his old home in coastal California and more than a mile higher in elevation. 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. But he became restless. He fought with other sailors in the Battle of Midway and watched the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. The Coghlan approached the Aleutians in October, as winter was pushing fall aside. alain picard wife / ap calculus bc multiple choice / did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. Before the war started, a hospital stay that long would have earned a sailor a discharge, but not anymore. Haerry held the rope that connected the ships as another crewman swung an ax to cut it. Kitchen patrol. "We'd leave at 5:30 in the evening and stay out 12 or 14 hours, then return in the morning," Conter said. "It hadn't really sunk in what had happened.". "We were told to watch out for them, these guys were assassins," Anderson said. This list and the accompanying graphics do not include encounters in which a shark does not actually bite a person or board (e.g. He squinted and thought about where he was. Nicaragua. Three days later, he and his buddy were on a ship to San Francisco and then a train to Pensacola. Bruner laughs as he remembers the conversation. Their backs are gray, blue, or brown in color and covered with regularly arranged light spots. He would work in the port director's office, delivering sealed packets to the captains of Navy ships. Stratton told her why: He had been aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. But the war was over. "Sure, let's see it." 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. One, Joe Langdell, lives about 40 miles away in Yuba City. You need the exercise. We can't let it happen again.". "I told another kid if they come back again tonight, I'm leaving.". Posted by ; royal canin yorkie dog food reviews; parkland psychiatric hospital dallas, tx . He spent long months on a tender, a vessel that carries equipment, parts and other supplies for ships at sea. As Cactus Jack, Anderson made a few concessions to his seagoing past. He kept the truck, held on to it through repairs, engine overhauls, new paint jobs. "The new ones, they didn't know beans.". He is one of nine living survivors of the Arizona and, at 97, he has amassed a lifetime of unforgettable days. That same year, he met his wife, Valerie, in Palm Springs. He would answer questions, but in short bursts of description, with no emotion. And he was allowed to visit a part of the Arizona few people ever see. He will tell his story if he's asked and he will remember details along the way. They spoil their granddaughters and can now move on to a new great-granddaughter. did sharks eat pearl harbor victimsi miss you text art copy and paste. Thickets of tangled shrubs and rows of trees are visible from his window. "We can't forget what happened there that day. The buddy wasn't home, but his son-in-law answered. There, he lost his twin brother, "It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess," he says. From the shore, he helped wounded men from the water, men whose bodies had been torn apart by bombs and bullets and fire. He handed the microphone to his son, Raymond Haerry, Jr., who spoke of his father's courage and resilience. "We picked up a couple of girls and made the rounds. It had been shortly after midnight when their ship, the USS Indianapolis, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles east of the . Calhoun told Conter to put in for the assignment. No one seemed to be in charge on Ford Island, where Cook had spent the night. "You either had a nice place aboard a ship and were high and dry or you didn't have anything," he reasoned. He says that decision was the best thing he could have done. What do great white sharks eat in Hawaii? The crew unloaded anything they could do without, to keep the damaged hull above the water line. Golfers play through 50 yards from Conter's driveway. "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.". But he doesn't tell his story anymore, not on his own. Although he is 97, he decided he couldn't miss a final reunion this year and he bought his tickets early. The Hirasaki family suffered some of the worst losses that terrible morning. 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. Hetrick turns a rusted chunk of metal over in his hands, running his fingers along the curves and edges. He struggles to speak at times (though when he's feeling good, he likes to flirt with the nurses). But one day and one place in Cook's 94 years seem to embody all the rest, the day in December 1941 when the young sailor from Oklahoma escaped the ship that sent America to war. They found a way to take prints from the edges of his fingers, enough to satisfy the law. Seven decades later, he is one of nine living survivors from the Arizona. Occasionally, they would close the store and hook a 33-foot trailer to a pick-up truck. He thinks back. The woman helped connect Bruner with other survivors from the Arizona and Pearl Harbor. He clears his throat. Cook has returned to Pearl Harbor three times and he likes the Arizona memorial. Only 335 men survived the bombing of the USS Arizona, the mighty battleship whose loss at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, inspired a nation to go to war. He ran to the anti-aircraft battery, his battle station, but there was no ammunition ready. Doctors and nurses wove among gurneys, administering morphine shots and looking for the victims most in need. "They paid everybody in two dollar bills back then. It scared him a little. LaRocque asked. "Next thing you know, I'm in a movie with John Wayne," Anderson says years later. Crustaceans. Today, he is one of nine remaining survivors from the mighty battleship. "Say your prayers, men, we're seven miles off shore and we're in 10, 15-foot swells," one of the officers said as the crew abandoned the plane. Hetrick shrugs, trying to get comfortable in the recliner. Lonnie Cook was born in this rural town south of Tulsa, not long after it was founded as a stop on the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway. In Alaska, he helped set up platforms that could keep up with tides that rose and fell as much as 32 feet. A year later, he felt better, so he re-enlisted. A while back, Stratton and his wife Velma retired to Yuma and lived there about 15 years. When they sent me my discharge, I just stayed here.". He can't relive those images anymore. He was attending midshipman's school at Northwestern University. "What are you looking at?" He bought another gun in the states and he is never far from it. "Some of the ships I was on had guys who liked to play the guitar, so I knew something about it. "No one knew where the hell I was," Bruner says. 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. 3 min read. Before the end of the war, he went to San Diego for gunner's mate school. About a year after he boarded the ship, he ran into a young recruit named Clyde Williams, a fellow from Okmulgee, Okla., a few miles down the road from Morris. In World War II, he fought at Guadalcanal, in the battle of the Coral Sea, at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Pearl Harbor: Directed by Michael Bay. The report said most of the guys in the anti-aircraft batteries, where Jake fought, were shot down early in the assault. The crews were based on tender ships moored in secluded harbors. Langdell knew Libby was friends with a skater in the Ice Follies, which was summering in San Francisco. She likes the story of how they tied the knot. It was one of the biggest rescues in World War II, but no one knew about it because everything was top secret in those days.". He wasn't ready to see it all again, to sharpen the memories he'd tried to dull. He had escaped the USS Arizona, the battleship whose losses surpassed any other. "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. Conter helped establish training bases in Florida and California and in 1965, he returned to Pearl Harbor to write training materials for troops headed to Vietnam. His dad will return finally at his death. "I'd do it a hundred times more," he says. "It's just not going to happen. In time, he felt no anger toward the Japanese, but he couldn't forget what they did. Song's got some zip to it, he said. If they found anything that belonged to the Navy or hadn't been approved, they'd take it. "Andy, you had 12 years of the damnedest fighting I ever saw. They stayed composed as their stories were told, stories of bravery, of quick thinking. "Knock it off. He helped rescue some of his shipmates. Repair crews were already at work on the battleships that had survived. Haerry accepts the chocolate bars his son has brought him. So he did. "They gave me 30 minutes to get off the ship and catch a transport to San Diego for training," he said. "It's always a great thing for me to see them," he says. Five years ago, Haerry moved into a nursing home, He stays in a room on the second floor. ", "You will go to the Arizona and you will take off all the bodies and body parts above the water line," the man said. "He remembers body parts in the water, charred burned bodies that he swam by," his son Ray, Jr., says. He will meet three other survivors in Hawaii for their last reunion. Hetrick still likes to talk about the new shoes he bought the day before the attack in Honolulu. It took Ray Jr. years, decades to piece together his father's story. Toward the end the war, Langdell was stationed in the Philippines, at a base in Manila. For Hetrick, the section of mooring line links him to those final moments of the Arizona. He had settled in New Mexico with his family. December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Casualties. It was Sunday and some of the crewmen with liberty wanted an early start. They were dead in the water.". "I do as much as I can to keep his story alive," his son says. Joe saved six lives and he didn't get crap. Only 35 dead were . We had survival training on the job. You can't leave the Navy.". After about six months of training in San Diego, Hetrick returned to Honolulu and joined the USS Saratoga, the sister ship of the Lexington. Conter was stationed on the Arizona at Pearl Harbor in September 1941, when he turned 20. "We had to have two crews, a regular crew and a stand-by crew lined up waiting," Bruner said. After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States opted to construct a naval base in 1899. She returned, puzzled. He didn't have to pay for dinner. A few years later, a new station owner showed Anderson his plans to start a TV station. A sailor on the deck of the repair ship Vestal spotted the men and threw a line across. Cook made it off alive. Ted asks. 2023 www.azcentral.com. Bass. Afterward, Langdell sought out other survivors who had formed reunion organizations. I even had a couple of dates with girls.". Potts returned to Illinois in late 1945 to await his formal discharge, hanging out in Chicago. He doesn't like to talk about the attack. Peeling potatoes. This all changed when the United States declared war on Japan, bringing the country into World War II. After so many years of travel, the Cooks have settled into a more tranquil pace. Haerry would come home on those days with cigar boxes full of the coins. By 1991, the 50thanniversary of the attack, the number of living Arizona crewmen had shrunk. He and a buddy would sneak off campus and hop freight trains to see how far they could get. "We worked with a crane barge capable of lifting 700 tons," he sys. 11 Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivors (Updated 2021) December 7, 1941 is a date that everyone in America has committed to memory. As he prepared to jump off the burning ship, he took the shoes off and set them on the quarterdeck. The ship was dead in the water. "One day our boat was stacked with two dollar bills," he said. By the time they were back, the icicles were forming again and two more guys would go out.".